Ministry update: The Parish Garden

Victoria writes
In the spring, there was a Bulletin notice that caught and held my attention. It was about a gardenin need of gardeners.

My husband and I moved from our Mount Baker home of forty years to a condo on First Hill a couple years ago. I no longer have much opportunity to get my hands in the dirt and to watch growing plants up close. I asked John Russell to show me the vegetable garden, adjacent to the Parish Center parking lot, that had been started as a school life-skills class.

Though I had planted a vegetable garden when we first moved to Kent long ago,
when we moved to Seattle 3 years later, we no longer had the yard or sunlight for a vegetable garden. Despite my lack of knowledge and experience, I was game for taking on the garden.

I invited Ann Kuder, Rose and Tom Hesselbrock, Kim Wahl, and Catherine Pagès to help. Together, we cleared the garden, dug up grass to create a couple new beds,
and added compost and fertilizer all around. John Russell and John Scearce
tilled the new beds and mixed in compost. Tom also repaired and expanded the watering system.

Early in our efforts I asked former parishioner Joe Hastings to be our guide. Joe grew up helping his father and siblings tend a very large garden in New Hampshire. Later, when he served in El Salvador with Maryknoll, he learned about urban gardening. Joe is teaching us how to prepare the soil, what to plant, how to thin, when to harvest, and much more.

We have planted cucumbers, squash, pumpkin, lettuce, Swiss chard, kale, turnips, beets, tomatoes, peppers, and bush beans. Last week, we harvested a couple bags of lettuce, a large box of turnips, and about ten zucchini. We are donating our harvest to Planet Worth, which cooks meals for homeless men in the Rainier Ave/I-90 corridor.
If you are interested in seeing, tending or advising on the garden, feel free to stop by or contact me at victoria.ries@comcast.net or 206-915-3479. We would be especially helped by another experienced vegetable gardener.



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Collections

Collection so far this fiscal year July 1, 2021 – July 29, 2021........$27,013
Last year at this time........ ........................................................................................$35,016