2007 Summary
 
We went from an untilled piece of ground … 

 

 to a garden lush with growth.

We started out with a lot of compost and a tiller.  During the April “Dig In!” day, volunteers put mulch on the paths, assembled picnic tables, and ran a tiller through the garden again.

      

 
In June, 65 children and counselors from the Abraham Lincoln Neighborhood Association day camp visited the garden twice a week.  Children planted vegetables and flowers from seed and plants.

 
During the ten weeks that the children visited, they were amazed at the growth of the plants.  They could see biggest difference in the squash, as shown below.
 

 
Gardeners planted, tended and harvested green and wax beans, eggplant, carrots, sweet corn, banana and green peppers, cucumbers and zucchini squash.  The cucumbers grew into the tomatoes, up the tomato supports, over the garden fence, and even THROUGH the garden fence.  Check out this cucumber!

 

 
The first picture below is a weekday picking, headed for the two food pantries that we supported.  The second is a Saturday harvest, which was shared with the folks at Peace Lutheran.

We had tomatoes coming out of our ears... cherry tomatoes, medium-sized tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, and Big Boy tomatoes.  We planted 52 tomato plants!  Between August 1 and Sept 30, we harvested on Monday and Wednesday nights and again on Saturday mornings.  During this time frame, the garden produced over 550 pounds of vegetables that we delivered to local food pantries.  The vegetables picked on Saturday mornings were offered to the congregation on Sunday mornings, since the pantries were closed.  This was about 150 more pounds.  The last week of September, as we cleaned up the garden, we stripped the remaining tomato plants of their fruits.  There were many, many pounds of green tomatoes that we did not weigh – I quit counting.  I took some to the local pantries while they were green.  The rest I brought home.

  

The Ripening Green Tomato Experiment  

Some people say to just lay the tomatoes out and they will ripen.  So I did that.  

Other people say to wrap them loosely in newspaper.  I did that.  

I put some in open cardboard boxes and stacked them criss-cross.  

The last bunch I put in cardboard boxes and closed the flaps.  

Then I ran out of space.  I put a lot of cherry tomatoes in 4-quart ice cream buckets.  

The tomatoes in the cardboard boxes ripened the fastest.  The ones in the bottom of the boxes that were stacked criss-cross were next, then the ones in newspaper and the cherry tomatoes in the buckets.  Finally the ones that were laying out in the open slowly ripened.  Some cherry ones never turned.  Apparently, the frost got them and I didn’t know it.  Who knows?  I was tired of tomatoes!  

I took the last tomatoes to the food pantry the week of Thanksgiving.  

Diane Runyan,

Peace Community Garden Director

Statistics

Between March 27 and September 22, 2007, volunteers and children spent a total of 328 hours at the garden, a huge investment of time.  According to The Independent Sector, a nationally-known and recognized research organization, this time is equivalent to an investment of $6339.28!  (http://www.independentsector.org/programs/research/volunteer_time.html)  

Twenty-eight man-hours were spent in meetings over this five-month time frame.  The director, working pro bono, was at the garden about 10 hours and spent 15 hours each week preparing, organizing, finding resources, getting produce back and forth to pantries, and working within the community. 

A total of 55 adults and 56 children were involved in the activities of the garden over the course of the summer.  Some interesting facts: 

·    11 volunteers worked on the kick-off day in April

·     7  volunteers served on the Garden Ministry Team

·     13 AmeriCorps members worked in the garden on May 29

·     8 AmeriCorps members and 1 non-AmeriCorps staff member were involved with the 
                 children from the day camp during the 10 weeks they came to the garden.

Children came to the garden from the day camp twice weekly for 10 weeks.  The last several weeks they were able to harvest some of the cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers.  Weights for this produce were not recorded.

Between August 1 and September 22, 2007, 551 pounds of vegetables were harvested from the garden.  Produce not taken home by volunteers was delivered to St. George’s/St. Mark’s Food Pantry and the InterFaith Food Pantry and made available to those who come in and out of the building.  One week, about 20 lbs. of cherry tomatoes were delivered to the Belleville Christian Center and made available there.  According to the records, an additional 150 lbs. of produce were made available to the members of Peace Lutheran Church during this time frame.  No statistics were collected on the tomatoes that were picked green, ripened between September 23 and November 22, and taken to the food pantries.  

Diane Runyan, Director
Phone:  618-806-7318
drunyan001@luthersem.edu

 Garden Location:

Peace Lutheran Church
1209 Royal Heights Rd.
Belleville, IL   62226
 Phone:  618-234-3165

 

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