Blog 2010
September
"The goldenrod is yellow
The corn is turning brown
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down."
- Childrens song
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Across North America ladybug species distribution is changing. Over the past twenty years several native ladybugs that were once very common have become extremely rare. During this same time ladybugs from other places have greatly increased both their numbers and range. Some ladybugs are simply found in new places. Please help track them thru
lostladybug.org/__________________________________________________________________________
USDA Hoop house arrived for installation in fall. We joined a study to see if we can prolong the growing season.
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Hurricane season has started, so it must be September! Hard to believe the summer is coming to a close-especially when it's nearly 90 degrees out there today.
Peach season is still here and there have been a few varieties of apples available as well. The farm stand has been doing very well with a steady stream of customers who can't resist the colorful, fresh organics.
There are recent farm shots being posted on Picasa and an update from beekeeper Jason on the wordpress blog. The latest tweet covers the ProJo's mention of the farm stand and Master Gardeners.
Don't forget to 'friend' us on facebook if you support the garden and farm stand! Better yet, stop by to buy fabulous tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, among other items.
Would you like to see jams, honey and other goodies at the farm stand? Let us know!
Here are rows of tomato and pepper plants. Have them with salad or saute them and add to whatever you are whipping up.
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August
Celebrate Providence's urban agriculture with 2nd annual Open Garden Day and Harvest Potluck. Saturday, Aug. 28, garden tours 3 to 5 p.m.; potluck dinner 5 to 7 p.m. Free and open to the public. Self-guided tour of six community gardens in Providence’s Southside & West End neighborhoods. LOCATION: Six garden locations throughout Providence; potluck at Potters Park and Garden. www.southsideclt.org.
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Social media here, there and everywhere! The new keep in touch tact will be to have basic info here that can be followed up in wordpress. There will also be brief snippets in twitter and facebook. Photos take a long time to down load onto the website and often have to be linked. A new photodatabase has been created through Google. Admittedly, I rarely keep up with this blog and now there are four other communication devices to update! But what's a blabber...er, I mean, blogger to do?
To link to twitter, facebook and wordpress, click on the icons at the bottom of the page. The photolink is http://picasaweb.google.com/westbaycap
Farmer Steve brought in a whopping 600 lbs of food into the Marketplace last week and we had plenty to sell at the farmstand, which by the way has really grown in popularity! Have you shopped there yet?
We now have Fraser Orchards from Coventry on board providing peaches and apples!
Another vendor will be coming on board for fall items and I'm still combing Kent County for jams and baked goods as I continue to expand the farm stand.
Locating an inexpensive corn grower has been a challenge indeed.
If you haven't gotten out there to experience the goodness of all the bulging farm stands and Farmers markets, shame on you! Get out there while there's so much colorful and delicious fruits and vegetables to enjoy. As for moi, I'm stopping by Barton Farm for new photos, then off to see Ken at Fraser Orchards and peach picking, as I continue to forage for that ellusive corn grower.
Westbay Farm Stand*Buttonwoods Community Center*Saturdays 9:00 am–noon
Fresh veggies and eggs last for a solid week or more when properly stored. No wasted money for items that spoil quickly.
See Farm Stand for this week's On the Plate update
June 25
Westbay Community Action Farm Stand Opens July 10 at New Location
Buttonwoods Community Center ** Every Saturday 9:00 am–noon
On the Plate: kale, spinach, basil, summer squash, radishes, red romaine, salad mix (various greens), swiss chard, parsley, peas
Fresh organic eggs from Medeiros Farm
Fresh honey from the Community Garden's own apiary!
Fresh cut flowers
Buttonwoods Community Center is located at the intersection of Buttonwoods Ave. and West Shore Road. There is plenty of free parking.
National Pollinator Week
June 21-27, 2010
Bee nice to your garden friends!
http://www.in-sitevideo.com/Site/pollinators.html
A little garden humor from Gardenweb.com
"I just make a slit in the ground and sprinkle seeds in it so my spacing isn't precise."
~ Guess I'm not the only one who's gotten casual about this...
Not me, Ray. I still use a compass and protractor.
No, wait. That's compost. And procrastination. (^_-)
Mid-June
Call us myopic, but one thing the farm crew likes to do is check out other community gardens and Farmers Markets. While we generally stay in Rhode Island and New England, yours truly ventured to the Pacific Northwest recently. There's nothing like journeying to another region that fully embraces community gardens, Farmers Markets, farm to fork local farming and good food to see the potential for our garden and farm stand.
It is said that Seattle launched FLOSS (fresh, local, organic, seasonal, sustainable) 10 or 15 years ago, but that could probably also be said of Santa Fe, NM.
The Seattle Farmers Markets seem to compete for customers like any retail, which is an interesting turn of events. The quality of Farmers Markets, and especially farm stand products, are less expensive than shopping for comparable gourmet or specialty items. Wholesome food must be accessible to everyone and economical, which is the purpose of community gardens!
The variety of food in the Seattle area is astonishing. Having grown up in New England visiting or living near small fishing villages, I thought I knew a fin or two about the industry. No way! The fishing ports and harbors in Seattle and en route to Alaska are huge, with the largest fleet I've ever seen, ranging from small crafts the size of lobster boats to enormous ships! What an eye opener!
Look at all this fish!
No, this isn't the 'tossed fish' vendor. Did you know the fishmonger started tossing the fish way back when as a pr stunt? Gives a few drops of credence to what has been said about fish oil's benefits for the brain, eh!
Overlooking the waterfront and ports, Pike's Market is probably one of the best known CSAs (co-op) in the world. It is a quirky mix of great food, incredible flower stands, souveniers, jewelry, artwork, eateries, and the like. It is almost always packed with shoppers and gawkers, and at first glance looks nauseatingly touristy and kitchy, but get past that and you'll appreciate this icon for the temple it is for fresh, simple and often, artisinal foods many proprietors offer. It resembles the Boston Fanueil Marketplace in the days of yore where my family shopped on Friday nights, only it's missing the peddlers calling out their wares from pushcarts, sawdust on the floors, live chickens and sides of beef hanging from the ceiling. THAT's grocery shopping, my foodie friends!
Every flower stand had inexpensive, exquisite, lush arrangements bursting with color
 
Stopped here for a lunch of strawberries, a peach and apricots
Providence has a terrific array of excellent restaurants and specialty shops, but Seattle is foodieville, people! The fish markets are amazing with a large selection of the freshest fish and shellfish. I also came across a meat and poultry shop that was locally sourced and then there are the produce shops and outdoor markets and bakeries! Not to mention wineries and the farms themselves about an hour or two away!
It's a good thing Seattle is hilly and the residents are very athletic because there are excellent restaurants full of calories everywhere. And you've heard about the coffee, right? I ate, drank and merried my way through the city and never had less than a fabulous meal.
The climate may take some getting used to, although my visits have had sun along with the clouds and drizzle; but it is perfect for plants. EVERYONE in Seattle must be a Master Gardener or hires one, because there are lush gardens in every inch of every yard and sidewalk. I was in my glory.
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Sam & his lady friend! 
The magic of dragonflies
Early June
The 2010 Farming Season is on its way and all is well with the world
On the Plate: Harvesting spinach, peas, lettuce, salad mix, kale.
The Westbay Community Garden is entering its fifth year which is looking like the best year yet, in large part because a few missing pieces have jelled in the last seven or eight
months. Through a serendipitous hiring of a few new people who just happened to be supportive of community gardens and family farms, and who then provided connections with other kindred spirits who share the vision of a more active community garden and closer connections to the beauty and history of Barton Farm.
This year, the original main garden has expanded by 25% and we gained another acre located in back of the main garden. Farm Manager Steve Stykos has done an amazing job planning and rotating the beds, preparing the soil (often without machinery), starting the seeds, hovering over the potted seedlings, planting, watering, protecting delicate planted seedlings from wind and cold, and yanking out the errant weed that pops thru the plastic and mulching, building trellises and removing rocks... row upon row of work with the indispensable assistance of his two farm hands Al and Sam.
Seedlings: some exposed, others protected from wind and heavy rains
 
Steve planted the summer squash and I hear the pole beans and cucumbers are coming along nicely and will be ready for their trellises before too long.....apparently the mice also heard these rumors and investigated the greenhouse for themselves. Steve planted several pots of something and a few days later found them raided. He had to repot.
Can't wait for the date that Steve thinks we'll be opening the farm stand at 205 Buttonwoods Avenue! (Yahoo!)
BTW: You'll never hear this from Steve, but he won an award not too long ago for his successful efforts in starting the Pawtuxet Farmers Market. If Steve can ever spare a few minutes, I'd love to read his thoughts on the the value of Farmers Markets and what it's like to be farm manager.
May
Meanwhile, as the agency is finally standing down from 24/7 crisis mode responding to the recent March and April floods, Westbay Community Garden continues to be prepared for the season, unharmed by the floods mostly because the soil is so sweet it soaked up the water and didn't have much puddling.
The gardens started producing the early spring crops like spinach and radishes. One of our biggest supporters, Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian, stopped by to check on progress. This means the farm team will be cleaning the cobwebs from the farm stand in a few weeks and the time is 'ripe' to turn more of our attention to the farm and speed things up a bit.
Alas, plans for the flower garden have wilted and gone dormant, as tilling the garden space has proven too overwhelming without a posse to help. Yours truly gave the rototillers a whirl, but let's just say after about an hour one of them malfunctioned whilst in my possession, and leave it at that......The dream is to have a garden that is a colorful collection of cut flowers, flowering shrubs, native and edible plants, and plants that attract natural pollinators, such as bees and butterflies.
Photo by Melanie LaMountain, director Westbay Adult Academy
With that in mind, perhaps the biggest buzz at the farm is the new beekeeper Jason Kerr with five busy hives! One hive has been established for one year and the other four are new and acclimating.
Jason does a great job explaining the fascinating culture of an apiary and will blog about his bees and share his knowledge of the importance of honey bees and their alarming decline in recent years, and what beekeepers do to help bees and how the average gardener can protect them too.
.......Hmm, where will all that honey be going?
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Check it Out: Speaking of pollinators, there's an entire organization based on this critical act of nature, called The North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) and Pollinator Partners http://www.pollinator.org Einstein once said that if bees disappear, people will disappear about seven years later. Actually, recent studies predict people will be extinct about four years after bees are gone!
A bumble bee hard at work
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Lack of farm hands and large equipment have also impeded plans to plant and grow pumpkins and fruit trees on the new acre of land we received from the City, a gift prompted by a suggestion from URI's Master Gardeners. If we don't have this land plowed and prepared by July, there won't be a patch for the Great Pumpkin (boo!) and all the little Westbay munchkins who want a Jack-o-Lantern this Halloween (boo hoo).....
New Partners
You read it here first! Mentioning the Master Gardeners brings us to the more positive side of things and our new partnership with the URI Master Gardeners (MGs) to help us sprout an educational aspect of the garden regarding organic practices and healthy eating, thru their program Harvest of the Heart.
Raised beds for the family garden patches
The MGs created a few small family garden patches for Westbay clients interested in growing produce for themselves and the food pantry. We also teamed the MGs with several client households interested in container gardening. In the days to come the Master Gardeners will share information about their Harvest of the Hearts Program.
March/April
Looking back at February, March & April's planning stages, where we enthusiastically pored over seed catalogs, mapped the garden, ordered seed and looked for greenhouse space, we were caught up in the joy of gardening and farming. To be outdoors in fresh air and sun, digging in the dirt (ahem, rich soil), coaxing tiny little seeds to grow into large edible food to provide delicious sustenance and a sense of well being to others (which evidentally the mice assume includes them) is an amazing and transformative experience.
Announcements held off for now...
newly tilled and more green 4/12/10
Lookin' barren right now 3/12/10
Week of February 1
Happy are we to announce the hiring of Steve Stycos to manage our community garden!(Take a look at the newsroom page to read the release.) Steve has been part of the locavore movement for a long time and enjoys energizing communities to get up, get out and enjoy nature and exercise.
He has already been to the farm scoping things out, and last I heard, is finalizing a long list of seeds to buy and start. Every year we expand the garden a few rows and this year under Steve's watchful eye, we hope to add quite a few more to kick up production and add more variety.
Plans are in the works to make the farm stand more interesting too, and we're looking into a possible new location to better share our goodies. Steve co-founded the Pawtuxet Village Farmers' Market and we hope he sprinkles pixie dust on our farm stand to provide this area with a bustling market, in the not too distant future.
Flower seeds are on Steve's list too, for sale at the stand and to perk up the look of our veggie patch. Perhaps more importantly, we want to keep the birds, bees and butterflies happy with native wildflowers.
Did you know that many flowers today are bred to appeal to people, rather than the bees who are the key pollinators? We need to balance out that trend big time!
We'd like to add more fruit to our pickings, and looks like we'll possibly have fresh eggs, too!
With luck, we'll have use of a heated greenhouse this year to start off the seeds - and extra hoop structures to extend the growing season. Hey, it's these little things that mean so much to us!
An important aspect of the community garden is education, and we look forward to providing additional educational components, such as the types of gardening experiences people can have, and teaching little ones that food comes from the good earth first, before it hits the super market.
It is indeed all good stuff on our plates here at Westbay (no pun intended!), but we'll need a gaggle of volunteers to help us accomplish it all, so sign up ya'll!
Hint: big news coming in March.....It just keeps getting better and better!
Meanwhile, here are more fotos of Barton Farm.
If you listen verrrry carefully, you might even hear the good earth catching some winter zzzzzzzzzzzzz
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One of these days we should paint this red!
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A chilly, sunny winter's day creates good karma
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Week of January 18
It’s hard to believe there are farmers' markets still being held during New England’s winters, but we know of one in Rhode Island:
Wintertime Farmers’ Market in Pawtucket
Hope Artiste Village
1005 Main St.
Pawtucket
Saturdays: 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM
November 7 to May 29, 2010
A winter farmers' market sort of reminds me of when I went to the New England Flower Show with my dad. It was so nice to be in a warm place surrounded by vegetation, flowers and the smell of dirt, when it was chilly outside and maybe some snow on the ground!
Most farmers' markets accept food stamps/EBT, Fresh Bucks and credit cards.
Here are a few of the many vegetables and fruits you can find in winter. They are either stored in root cellars or grown in heated greenhouses.
Apples*Broccoli rabe*Brussels sprouts*Cabbage*Carrots**Cranberries*Greenhouse salad greens *Leeks*Mushrooms*Onion*Parsnips* Pears*Potatoes*Spinach*Sweet potatoes*Turnips* Quince*Winter squash.
Don’t forget the fresh eggs!
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Week of Jan. 4
Maybe we all need to get a life, but we’re getting pretty excited flipping through the seed catalogs deciding what to plant this coming spring! The favorites are always tomatoes, pumpkins and green beans, but we’re looking at planting a few new items.
Meanwhile, here are a few of the photos taken at the farm just a few days ago. From all the animal tracks around the fence, looks like we’re not the only ones waiting for the veggie garden to start!
So close, yet so far: the fence does a good job keeping the critters out.
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Any guess as to what made these tracks?
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A busy intersection!
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For just awhile on a winter's morn,
I turned within, in awe;
Listening to the sounds of silence
and the beauty that I saw.
©Joan Adams Burchell December 11, 2004
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