Needs and Praises

The newest items to be added to the needs list are grass clippings and soaker hose. If you can help us out
with these, that would be great.

Please contact me by either phone or email at milfordgardens@windstream.net.
If you see me about town, you can talk to me then as well.  :-)

A big relief off my shoulders is the finalization of the supply of tin cans. I contacted Crestview Care Center and Sunrise Country Manor today about picking up the ones they discard and they are happy to give them to us. Along with the cans still being given to us by Pizza Kitchen, this should fully cover our need!

The Porta-potty  has arrived!

Mr. S also told me that a gentleman wants to not only supply sprinklers for the corn, but also set them up!  Thank You!!!

I'm going to be contacting the local papers to get the word out about what we are doing this summer.

This project is coming together bit by bit, Praise God!

To Market, To Market

We have secured a great locale to sell our produce! Mr. S said someone suggested using his church's (Milford Mennonite) extra lot as a local place to market our soon to be delicious veggies. Great idea!

It's important to our program to keep everything as local as we can. The kids working in the garden will be mainly from the Lincoln area, so we hope to entice some of our eastern neighbors out as well, to take a look at what Milford Gardens has to offer.

Be looking for the signs as it gets nearer to harvest time!

If You Plant It, They Will Come

Exciting news!

We have 3 groups of kids lined up to work in the garden for the whole summer. They'll be getting out of school at the end of next week and will be ready to help. Mr. G (my amazing hubby) is in charge of this and will be setting up a work schedule. 

How about you? 

Would you like to help?

Do you know any groups of kids (or adults) that would benefit from tending to their own garden? 

Would you like to donate supplies or money to the project?

Let us know!

You can contact me at milfordgardens@windstream.net.

And now I'm going to show off my own little helpers!

'Maters

Got 48 tomato plants planted on what was probably the most windiest day of the year! (Monday the 24th).  The boys and I were covered with dust and dirt by the time we were done. Although it tried, the wind was not successful in blowing any of the tin cans away. Thank goodness! And thank goodness I got the plants in the ground when I did. That night a large thunderstorm rolled through, soaking everything. It's still too wet out there to get anything else planted!

Here is what we have so far:

12 Early Girls

18 Jubliees

12 Rutgers

2 Celebritys

4 Husky Reds (a cherry-sized variety)

I've never planted any other variety except for Celebrity and Roma, so I am anxious to see how these other types turn out.

We also were donated some additional pepper plants, by Mr. and Mrs. J, thank you!  Can't wait to get the rest of the tomatoes and  peppers planted.

Manure Tea

Manure Tea. Very simple recipe. Manure + Bucket + Water. Can't take credit for the name. My mom always called it this so I thought she made it up. I found out recently that my grandma Norma called it by this name. I'm not sure if she came up with it.....maybe it's a term passed down from generations. That makes me laugh! Surprisingly, it does look like a strongly brewed tea, hence the name.

Growing up, we always used sheep manure to make our tea. In this garden we use manure tea made from the same sheep manure my parents used. It's been sitting in the barn, just waiting for us all these years.

Veggies of the past seemed to love it, hope ours do too!

Watch My Corn Pop Up In Rows

I couldn't help but think of that Tim McGraw song, "Where the Green Grass Grows", when I spied the little corn plants poking above the ground. "I'm gonna live where the green grass grows, watchin' my corn pop up in rows."   

I promise you, I still get giddy when I see little plants breaking through to the surface. Silly, isn't it? It is the simple things in life that make me happy.

Mr. S planted 36 rows of Kandy Korn (the yummiest sweet corn you will ever taste) on May 16th and he will also plant 4 rows of popcorn within the next week or so (providing the soil is dry enough). We will also plant a few rows of Ornamental Indian corn.  

Anybody ready for sweet corn yet?  I am!

So can YOU see it?

What about now?!

Isn't it so exciting?   

Visits

I was out in the garden last Sunday evening, digging up holes for the tomatoes in the area I had plotted. Understand that this garden plot is large, over an acre, and it is completely bare at this point. Trying to fathom space and where everything should go has proved a tad bit daunting.

So, when a strange car drove up and parked in the drive next to the garden, I didn't know what to expect. Thankfully, much needed help had arrived!  Mr. S and Mr. Y had come to save the day! Or garden, really.

We were able to come up with MUCH better spacing between plants, which helped me tremendously.

Mr. S also said he would talk to the local lawn service to see if we could have their grass clippings. We need these to put between the rows of plants for weed control and aesthetics.

Mr. and Mrs. T also drove by and stopped to chat. Mrs. T said they would be able to provide for some of the things on our list. She also suggested making a First Aid kit .....good idea! 

Milford Mennonite Church is also taking care of the cost of a porta potty rental. I KNOW!  I didn't think of that either, but, duh! Good someone thought of this! Those poor kids would have had to just hold it had it been left up to me.

I am continually amazed at the generosity of those I live around. Thank you everyone!

Friendly Neighbors

I will tell you why I like living in a small town. Everyone knows you. The garden is right next to the one highway that leads to and through town. Last Sunday evening, as I was working to plot out where the tomatoes would go, people driving by that knew me would honk their horns. Honk. Wave. Honk. Wave. I found this amusing yet strangely comforting at the same time. So if you see us out there, don't forget to honk!

Getting Ready

We have the plants. We have the seed. We are ready. Now if only the weather would cooperate!
The corn has been planted, thank goodness. Now we are waiting on a few sunny days to dry out the soil a bit so we can get our seedlings in place. They are waiting so patiently! Too bad I can't say the same for myself.

While I've been waiting, I took the bottoms off the tin cans we've collected so far (big thanks to Pizza Kitchen for our supply). Come on sun!

It Begins!

We've officially started our garden project, Milford Gardens, which has been long in the making. Thanks to the generosity of so many people, we have been able to get off to a great start!

For me personally, there is something special that happens when I "dig in the dirt". We hope to provide the youth involved in our gardening program with the opportunity to feel this same way. Taking care of plants, watching them grow and picking and eating the end product is truly a humbling and magical experience that every child should experience!

Our goal is to help translate the lessons learned in gardening into ones the youth can use in their everyday lives.