Thanks January Volunteers!

For the first time, two groups volunteered to help the garden in January.  With a high of 55 degrees and frost on the ground, the Winston-Salem State University women's softball team removed brush from the field, harvested collards for Samaritan Inn and pruned shrubbery.  In the afternoon Boy Scout Troop from Sharon United Methodist Church in Lewisville came with a group led by Matthew Smitherman.  They dug trenches and set the new raised beds in place.  The fields are now ready to be prepared and the raised beds ready to be planted.  Thanks folks!

Welcome to the Food Bank Community Garden, Winston-Salem, NC

We love our crops!  This year we grew over 9,000 lbs including 18 different varieties of vegetables and melons

Thank you for visiting our blog.  We will try to give you updates on what is happening.  Our mission is to grow fresh, local food for our regional food bank, Second Harvest of Northwestern NC (from Burlington to Boone). With increasing poverty in our area due to the economy and severe loss of jobs, the food bank's needs have more than doubled in the past two years.

We know that fresh produce is the healthiest food there is. We want to make it available to people in need. We are an all volunteer operation. Through this blog we want to inform volunteers and interested persons about what we do. Please join us! The directions to our garden are in the left column. See next post for 2012 schedule.   Tell us if you have questions or ideas. We'd love to hear from you.

Coordinating Team:

Gaylen Bolz,  Harry Corpening,Lila Cruikshank,  Don Dwiggins, Patsy Dwiggins, Janette Griffin, Libit Glenn, Ellen Kirby, Mike Lawless, Sandee Lawless, Richard McGavern, Jennifer Pierce

2012 Schedule

January - Women's Softball Team
                Winston-Salem State (17 students)
                Boy Scout Troop, Sharon United Methodist Church, Lewisville

Plowing and preparing fields-Feb.-March

Planting on Saturdays in April and May

May 5- United Way Volunteers (25 max.)

June-August   Harvesting and planting as needed


If you are interested in having a group sign up to volunteer, contact harvest.tomatoes@gmail.com or call (336)922-7195.

Growing Community AND Food in 2011



Children from 4H come to help with the harvesting of beans

Our community garden grows relationships and food. In 2011, we found an amazing upsurge of people who want to volunteer.  From churches and the local synagogue, schools (colleges and universities as well as elementary and high school), Boy Scouts, families, etc. we have had over 28 groups who have come to the garden so far this year. Our recent survey of volunteers indicates that the main reasons people want to volunteer are to combat hunger and to volunteer in a service opportunity with outdoor, "hands on" activities.

PRODUCE

The total amount for 2011 has now exceeded 9000 lbs as of October 31.

Crop List:

• Cucumbers
• Squash
• Green beans                                                           
• Okra                                                                      
• Onions                                                                   
• Tomatoes                                                               
• Peppers (Bell and Chili)                                                         
• Jalapeno                                                                      
• Pumpkins and Acorn Squash  
• Corn                                      
• Watermelons                                                          
• Canalopes                                                             
• Turnips                            
• Sweet potatoes                    
• Collards and all greens            
• Cabbage  
• Eggplant
• Potatoes
• Herbs                                                                                      

Thanks to every single person and organization for their tireless efforts this year.

Top 10 Benefits of Leaves - Vegetable Gardener

Food Gardener's Information

One of our sustainable practices at the Food Bank Garden is to incorporate leaves into the fields we are using.  From Wake Forest University we get many loads of leaves and from the City of Winston-Salem we get free leaf mulch.  FYI what you can do in your garden:

Top 10 Benefits of Leaves - Vegetable Gardener

Volunteering

Volunteers can include a group or individuals/families/etc.  If you would like to sign up as a group for 2012 contact us at harvest.tomatoes@gmail.com  or by calling  (336)922-7195.

Thanks to everyone who  has worked to prepare the fields and grounds and plant all the crops and harvest them in 2011. 

Groups who helped in 2011:

• Triad Mommies
• Mt. Tabor UMC, Adults and youth
• 4 H Trailblazers, Children and youth
• Mt. Pleasant UMC (King, NC) Children and adults
• Centenary UMC, Adult Sunday School Class and families
• Boys and Girls Club Children's Garden of Winston-Salem
• Centenary UMC Children's Mission Project
• St. Paul's Episcopal Church
• Wake Forest Univ. School of Medicine: Project for youth in health careers (2 visits)
• Pleasant Grove Baptist Church Youth, Fuqua Varina, NC
• Winston-Salem Junior Jaycees
• Montessori School Teachers and Administrators
• Temple Emanuel's Mitzvah Day
• "Weeds and Seeds" Garden Club
• Forsyth Country Day School
• Wake Forest Sociology Class
• Wake Forest MBA Students
• Piney Grove Baptist Church
• Ardmore United Methodist Church
• Centenary United Methodist Church
• The Children's Home Farm staff
• Forsyth County Extension Service
• Paisley Middle School
• Crosby Scholars program
• Second Harvest Food Bank of NW NC
• Wake Forest Univ. School of Medicine-Project for youth in health careers
• Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church
• Mt. Tabor United Methodist Church

 

AND, of course,  all of the REGULAR VOLUNTEERS at the garden.  These are the people who come often and are the backbone of the garden. Many more REGULAR volunteers are needed.

Wake Forest Business School Brings Students to Volunteer

Check out this neat video with the MBA students from Wake Foreset University.  This is the third time the students have come to help and that made SO much difference.

http://vimeo.com/29756840

Featured Crop

Horticulture: Sweet Potatoes

We harvested our first sweet potatoes this week. Sweet Potatoes have been off and on as a crop at the garden. This year our sweet potatoes are planted in the top row near the road. They were planted in late spring . Ours are started from “slips” or a small transplant which we get from Eastern NC. We planted over 500 slips this year and have already harvested about 200 lbs. Many more will be harvested this month.


Sweet potatoes extremely nutrition’s and also have other advantages: besides simple starches, sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, beta carotene (a vitamin A equivalent nutrient), vitamin C, and vitamin B6. Pink, yellow and green varieties are high in carotene, the precursor of vitamin A.


In 1992, the Center for Science in the Public Interest compared the nutritional value of sweet potatoes to other vegetables. Considering fiber content, complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron, and calcium, the sweet potato ranked highest in nutritional value. According to these criteria, sweet potatoes earned 184 points, 100 points over the next on the list, the common potato.


Sweet potato varieties with dark orange flesh have more beta carotene than those with light-colored flesh, and their increased cultivation is being encouraged in Africa, where vitamin A deficiency is a serious health problem. Despite the name "sweet", it may be a beneficial food for diabetics, as preliminary studies on animals have revealed it helps to stabilize blood sugar levels and to lower insulin resistance.[24]


China produces 80 per cent of the world’s sweet potatoes and NC is the chief producer of sweet potatoes in the USA (over 30 per cent). They originate in Latin and Central America.

Gallery of 2011 Photos

This free photo slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Scenes from the Garden... Spring at Last!

Volunteer happiness...UNC-G student having a good time and working hard!