First Harvests!

Big week this week! We harvested a bunch of kale, lettuces, spinach and spinach mustard. We tasted everything fresh out of the garden and it was delicious! The chefs were psyched about our goodies when we brought them to dining hall and one of the managers even ate the kale straight from our bags, dirt and all. 




We also did a whole lot of dirt moving this week. We leveled a pile of rocks, compost, dirt and who knows what else. We found a snake AND a mouse in this process. I guess its good to know that wildlife enjoys the garden...We leveled out this area to create a space at the garden where members of the skidmore community can hang out with our community of snakes, birds, worms and plants. We planted blueberries and raspberries there today for people (and probably birds) to much on. And hopefully we'll have a picnic table in that spot soon! Exciting stuff, come check it out!








Here are pictures:

The snake we found! Still haven't identified him but hes keeping the rodents out so we hope we stays.

A huge bed of zucchini (right side) and cucumber (left side).  Can't wait to see them grow up!

From the wind chime to the edge of our growing space (marked w/ bricks) is for the sole purpose of hanging out :)

In full bloom...

The beautiful weather has brought lots of growth to the garden! Almost all of the beds are now planted and we have begun the process of thinning, weeding, adding nutrients (organically of course) and harvesting! There is also a lot of maintenance work to do around the garden so that we can create a community space for people to enjoy.

Come Wednesdays anytime from 2-6pm to help out! The garden needs love and we can always use an extra pair of hands even if you can only come for a few minutes.

Here are some photos of what is currently blossoming...

Our very first apples! The trees have some cedar rust that needs to be taken care of but the fruits look tasty already!

Senior Melissa Green returns to see our brand new strawberries.

          Garlic Plants getting tall and curly. 

Melissa found a dragonfly!

Eggplant transplants. Hopefully we will be eating them soon!

Marigolds protect onions and the rest of the garden from pest and disease. And they look pretty!

The Doctrine of Signatures: Things that taste good together, grow well together. Newly planted tomatoes and basil. Yum!

Our bed of mixed greens is growing out of control! Salad anyone?

Our huge thyme plant (perennial from last year). Rosemary, sage, chives, lavendar, chamomile, lemon balm and columbine flower (to attract butterflies) are also growing in the herb spiral!

We are krazy for kale!!

Have these photos convinced you to come to the garden yet?!! It's beautiful and it's summer! Come hang out!

After saying goodbye to some amazing senior gardeners and having time to rest, the garden is full of life. Unfortunately, our most bountiful crops right now are weeds....BUT we now have 3 student workers in the garden most every day so the garden should be blossoming with delicious fruits and veggies in no time! Today, after weeding for quite a while, we planted corn for the three sisters and kale amongst onions, carrots, lettuces, garlic, some herbs, chard and other goodies. Below is a photo of the little baby kale plants that are already blooming. More plantings to come soon!

Come help us out! The garden loves company and could use some TLC. We are there every afternoon from 1-5 but Wednesdays will be the best days to come get your hands dirty.

Peace, love and fresh kale

SSG

New Herb Garden on campus!

There's now a new herb garden outside of the Dining Hall, in the Keyes Quad area in front of Jonsson Tower! Walk over and check it out! The garden will grow herbs for the Dining Hall and is the first garden located in a central location on campus, a step towards the future of sustainable food production at Skidmore. Eva Fillion and Roz Freeman have been working with management in Dining Services and in Facilities Services as well as a local farmer and the other Dining Hall sustainability interns to make this herb garden a reality.
      The new garden will make it easier for the Dining Hall chefs to use fresh herbs and will allow students to see where some of their food is coming from. The garden will be maintained mainly by the Student Garden manager and the Skidmore Student Garden group, but the Dining Hall chefs and staff will also harvest the herbs. With a perennial bed and an annual bed, we are growing chives, oregano, sage, thyme, lavender, parsley, basil, cilantro, dill, tarragon,and nasurtiums.

Early on this cool and sunny morning, Sarah Breckenridge Wright brought her EN 105 Food Literacy class to visit the garden. We talked about what's been going on with the garden lately, long term visions for the garden, and how to get involved. Then together we planted Red Russian Kale.

Our Third Work Party!!!

GARDEN WORK (and FUN!) PARTY 
This Friday at 2pm. 

There will be: Music, Snacks and Baked Goods, Lots of Happy People, and also Shovels! So that we can: weed out the last of the winter rye, unmound the beds, and put on some more compost.

ALSO, for the record, the garden is a NO smoking environment. If you choose to partake in 4/20, please do not do so at the garden! Come take a break from higher activities and get your hands dirty!

Spread the word and tell your friends to come! 

Garlic!

On Friday during the work party, we planted the first crop of the season -- garlic!

Work Party Friday April 13th

On this Friday the thirteenth (of April) we will continue to prepare the beds for planting. We'll be chopping the winter rye, finely breaking up the roots into the soil so we can add the nutrients to the soil without the winter rye growing back after we plant the veggies. Also, we received a great gift of baby garlic (thanks Riley) so we can plant those in the beds that we finished preparing with Skidmore's own compost last week (thanks Composters!).


Come by to hang out or help out from 2-4 pm, bring all of your friends! You'll be surrounded with live music -- the beautiful sound of Skinny White Folk -- and dirt and sun and great people and freshly baked bread.


Where is the garden?

WORK PARTY

This Friday April 2, 2012 at 2 pm is our first garden work party of the semester at the Skidmore Student Garden! We will be expanding and adding beds among other fun things. Bring clothes to get dirty and bring your friends. There will be music and food too!