Thursday, October 27, 2011

And That's a Wrap

The garden is tucked in tight and ready for the winter that lays ahead. We close out the season with a grand total of 1049.75 pounds of produce. Our biggest year thus far! We have had a successful season both inside and out. On the outside, the garden has florished. Inside, our volunteers have been hard at work establishing a formal steering committee. We will be working like a well oiled machine over the cold months laying out the 2012 garden plan and events. We look forward to another great year filled with sunny days and 100+ pound deliveries!

Harvest's Past
2008 -  More than 500 pounds of fresh produce were delivered to Lewis House in our inagural growing season. At times the harvests were so plentiful that excess produce was also shared with a local food shelf.
2009 - We hit a hiccup and lost our melons, pumpkins, squash and cucumbers to Powdery Mildew. We ended the growing season with less then 500 pounds of fresh produce.
2010 - We recovered from last season and donated 1000 pounds of fresh produce to Lewis House and the local food shelf.
2011 - Japanese Beetles were out in full force. Thanks to a couple of bug smashing boys, we were able to overcome the infestation. We conitnued our produce donations to Lewis House and the local food shelf.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Afternoon Snack


Caterpillars of the Arctiidae family are often called woolly bears due to the dense coat of hairs (setae) adorning the body. They come in a variety of different, striking colour patterns and are often found in the fall when looking for a sheltered spot, (under a rock, fallen log, etc.) to hibernate as caterpillars.

This woolly bear was spotted in the garden getting an afternoon snack. Once 'our' little bear reaches adult hood, he will transform into a Virginian Tiger Moth (Spilosoma virginica). Adults are white with long-hairy backs and generally one small black spot.