Upcoming Events at OTCG

Hi Everyone -

Here is the upcoming calendar of events for November at the OTCG:

• Saturday, November 3 at 8:00am
  -- the frames for the raised beds will be built by the gardeners
• Saturday, November 10 at 9:00am
  -- the dirt for the raised beds will be spread by the gardeners and volunteers
• Tuesday, November 13 at 6:30pm
  -- ALL GARDENERS meeting at the CCA

See you in the garden!

OTCG: In the News...

Watch for the Saturday, October 27 of NeighborsGo! (Southern Denton County) for an OTCG End-of-Season article.

Thanks everyone--it's been a great first season!

Community Garden Celebrates Inaugural Year!

In less than 12 months, community volunteers, came together to turn an old, rugged parking lot into a community garden. Strangers became friends as the shared passion for the outdoors, gardening, and making a positive impact on the community brought a diverse group of individuals together. More than 290 pounds of vegetables were donated to Christian Community Action.

"CCA operates a medium-sized grocery store for poor families in our community," says Maureen Cummings, CCA Garden Liaison. "The pantry assists over 550 families each week. 30% of the people served by the CCA’s food pantry are diabetic. Many times the food available at the pantry is not always the best choices for diabetics. The surplus portion of the produce grown was donated to the food pantry to provide the much needed fresh vegetables for our families."

A brief look back...

Transforming an old parking lot...


A name is selected and a logo created



Developing garden plots.


Adding Irrigation




Creating Walkways




Gardeners Purchase Plots


A boy scout in pursuit of the rank of Eagle Scout designs and builds a compost bin


The Garden Blessing
















Adding Beauty


An Arbor is Added


Amazing Grace Chimes Donated


Grand Opening






Gardener T-Shirts




The First Donation


Compost Education Session


Compost Heats Up


The Garden Grows








End of Season Soil Prep




Thanks for a great inaugural season everyone!

October 6 End of Season Garden Party

Look for an article to appear in an upcoming issue NeighborsGo! (Southern Denton County edition). The story covers our End of Season Garden Party and Work Day.

Lazara Arriola's Salsa!

Fellow Gardener Lazara Arriola and her husband enjoyed the inaugural year in the Old Town Community Garden! They grew tomatoes and jalapeno peppers for homemade salsa.

Lazara shares her delicious recipe with everyone!

Ingredients:

5 ripened tomatoes
3 medium size yellow onions
12 small to medium size jalapenos
5 garlic cloves
1 bunch of cilantro
1 T cumin
1 1/2 T of salt
6 C of water

Instructions:
1. Cut up the ripened tomatoes and yellow onions into small pieces (nickel size) and place them in a large skillet.

2. Cut up the jalapenos into small pieces (to look like dime size thin rings and play with color! Jalapenos come in all colors!) then spread them over the tomatoes and onions. That's both fun and colorful! (Make sure you wear disposable gloves when handling jalapenos! or you will be painfully surprised)

3. Smash the 5 fresh garlic cloves and scatter them over the tomatoes, onions and jalapenos.

4. Separate the cilantro leaves from their stem and use only the leaves. Chop the leaves into small pieces and add them to the tomatoes, onions, jalapenos and garlic. (Throw away the cilantro stems. If you add the stems this will give the salsa an unpleasant texture and a bitter taste.)

5. Mix all of the above, then add the condiments of Cumin & Salt.

6. Toss all the ingredients well.

7. Add 6 cups of water (which should cover all the ingredients.)

8. Cook at medium high for about 45 minutes (stir a few times while cooking).

9. Lower the heat to a low-medium for about 10 minutes while you smash all the ingredients in order to obtain the right Salsa consistency (still chunky, but not lumpy)

10. Stir the Salsa and let it cook for another 10-15 minutes on low heat. After that, turn off the heat and smash the Salsa again for a few minutes.

Take out the chips out and Enjoy! The Salsa is now ready to eat! Remember: HOT is best!

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

An update from the "All Gardener" meeting held Tuesday, September 18:

For the 2008 Garden Season, we will have raised beds and improved soil and drainage. To do that, we are ending the 2007 inaugural season at the end of September.

If you wish to maintain your garden through October, you will be responsible for spreading organic material and preparing your plot. When the frames are built, the frame will be placed around the existing garden, regardless of it being in use or empty. The frame should not interfere with the existing garden if there is one.

Saturday, October 6 at 8:00am
Garden Workday & End-of-Season Garden Party
Join us for a pot-luck continental breakfast, fellowship, and a little bit of work! Please bring something to share with the gardeners. Remember that there is no electricity at the garden, please keep that in mind!

If you do not plan to have a Fall garden, all summer garden materials should be removed by Friday, October 5 if you want help spreading the soil compost. On Oct 6, we'll be spreading and tilling organic matter into each plot. Bring a wheel barrow if you have one. Any plot that has not been cleared will not have organic material added to it or be tilled.

Tuesday, October 16 at 6:30 p.m.
All Gardeners Meeting – CCA, Board Room

Saturday, October 20 at 8:00am
Garden Workday: Frame Building--WE NEED YOUR HELP! Both Gary & Al will be out of town, so we need all hands on deck to help! The frames for the plots will be built for all the plots hopefully. (If an additional workday is needed, it will be Saturday, October 27 at a time to be determined.) If you have one, we'll need a powerless screwdriver/drill with 1/4inch drill bit.

All plots need to be emptied by Wednesday, October 31 so that when the soil is delivered it can be distributed amongst the plots.

November
Soil
Friday, November 2, the soil will be delivered

Saturday, November 3, soil will be distributed by volunteers, hopefully!

If the weather doesn’t cooperate with our timeline, the dates will be pushed back by a week. An email will be sent out if that happens!

It’s been a wonderful first season! Let’s get the garden ready so that next season will be even better!

Can’t wait to see everyone at the garden!

Amanda Jekel
OTCG Garden Coordinator
www.oldtowncommunitygarden.blogspot.com

Welcome Amanda!

Amanda Jekel (far right in the photo above) has assumed the position of Garden Coordinator for Old Town Community Garden. Jessica Trent led us in that role during our inaugural year but has had to step down due to added responsibilities at work.

Amanda has also been involved since the very first meeting, and has often served as the "go-to girl" for just about every project...meetings, the Garden Blessing, Grand Opening, composting, and just about all other pre-event activities. After a summer spent traveling Europe and Colorado, Amanda is ready for the role of keeping Gardeners informed and everything on track. While not working with the garden, Amanda attends her collegiate studies and enjoys her beagle puppy.

We thank Jessica for her hard work this year. And welcome Amanda Jekel to her new role!

Landscaping for Year Around Color

Community Garden Harvest Friendships

Community Garden Harvests Friendships and Community Support
by Alva Logsdon Cranford

Gary Janke and Al Kirchoff received the 2007 Guardian Angel Award from Christian Community Action (CCA) in Lewisville. The award is presented to an individual, organization, or business who has contributed a major impact to CCA or made a difference in the community. While both are men of humility and kindness, their individual and combined contributions have been like a pebble in a lake, the ripple effects flowing out in an ever widening circle positively impacting many lives for greater good.

The two men share many things in common, including a love for God, serving others, and gardening. Their respective interest in gardens took root at a young age for both.

"Gardening for me came as an extension of growing up on a farm," says Janke. "It was fresh vegetables in the spring and summer knowing that canned vegetables would follow in the fall and winter. A little work with the reward of rhubarb pie and ice cream for supper was a combination us kids could tolerate."

"I grew up on a farm in Iowa, where we always had a large garden and of course my mother canned and froze produce," explains Kirchoff. "I majored in general agriculture at Iowa State University. I joined the Air Force following college so my ag training was funneled into gardening. I developed garden sites, improving the soil from the typical tract home "soil" into productive garden soil."

Their friendship grew when Kirchoff joined Janke on The Lamb of God Lutheran Church Garden of Eatin' gardening team almost three years ago.

"The original group saw a need in the community food pantry for fresh vegetables and accepted the challenge to help fill the need," Kirchoff says. "They started with an old roadway that wasn't much better than what we started with in the Old Town Community Garden (OTCG) and have developed a 6000 sq. ft. garden of the best garden soil in Texas. Gary has been the main driving force on the project, planning, preparing, and coordinating the other activities. Others that regularly help are Irwin Jenke, Gary Summers, myself; several others who volunteer occasionally. The garden produces approximately 1,500 to 2,000 pounds of produce each year for the CCA food pantry."

Since retiring, Kirchoff has further developed his love of gardening by becoming a Master Gardener through the Denton County Master Gardener program this year. Along with Janke, he has been extremely instrumental in establishing the OTCG which was created for experienced and inexperienced gardeners. In transforming an old rocky parking lot into a garden, area residents now have a place to enjoy diverse community, garden, and donate much needed, fresh produce to the CCA Food Pantry, which serves Southern Denton County. In spite of unusual rains in the garden's inaugural year, the OTCG has already donated more than 100 pounds of produce to the Food Pantry.

Their volunteer work in the Old Town Community Garden is unparalleled. They spent months tilling and preparing the soil for spring planting, installing irrigation, teaching informal classes on gardening, composting, and bugs, building the bulletin board, and picking up where others either did not have experience or the time to assure the garden's success.

"Because of their dedication to a community garden, our parking lot is now a garden," says Maureen Cummings, CCA director of programs and garden liaison. "They inspire other gardeners with an upbeat attitude and willingness to share time and knowledge."

A look at the lives of these two men is an inspirational reminder of the far-reaching impact one life can have, enriching the lives of others and making difficult times, a little less so.

This story was published in the August 11, 2007 edition of the DMN Neighbors Go! (cover story).

Reap the Benefits of Gardening

Reap the Benefits of Gardening
Burn Serious Calories and Prevent Cancer
-- By The American Institute of Cancer Research

Bend, twist, reach, and pull.

While this may sound like an intensive aerobics class, these are actually movements you do while working in the garden. Researchers estimate that gardening burns an average of 300 calories per hour, while heavy yard work can burn more than 600 calories per hour! Engaging in regular physical activity like gardening is also an excellent way to lower your risk of some cancers.

Here’s the Dirt
Gardening is an ideal form of exercise because it combines three important types of physical activity: strength, endurance and flexibility.

Spending time in a garden is also believed by many to have physical and emotional healing effects. According to the American Horticultural Therapy Association, gardening can benefit people who are recovering from physical illness by retraining their muscles and improving coordination, balance, and strength. In addition, simply spending time in nature reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, and relieves muscle tension.

But the cancer-protective benefits of gardening don’t end there. Studies show that gardeners eat a wider variety of vegetables (rich in disease-fighting antioxidants and phytochemicals), and have a higher overall intake of vegetables than non-gardeners.

The Old-Fashioned Way Is Better
To reap the maximum health benefit from your gardening, labor intensively. Turn off your leaf blower and pick up a rake. Use manual clippers, trimmers and lawnmowers if possible.

Try to stick to a regular "garden exercise" routine. Rather than saving up your outdoor work for one marathon weekend session, schedule at least 30-60 minutes of gardening two or three times per week. If you’re away from home during the day, early mornings and evenings are ideal
gardening times.

Work at a steady, constant speed, but be sure to change positions every 10 minutes or so to avoid overusing a particular muscle group. If you start by bending down to pull weeds, stand to prune the hedges next. Also alternate which side of the body you use. Pull with your right hand, then with your left.

Find a Row to Hoe
Even if you don’t own an acre, a small yard can provide ample opportunity to dig, plant, and weed. You can also look for a local garden on the American Community Garden Association’s website. Although your workout will be more limited if you garden on a balcony or patio, you can harvest a good crop of nutritious vegetables in a space as small as 16 square feet.

After your physician gives you the "green thumbs up," keep these tips in mind:

* To prevent muscle soreness, back pain, and repetitive strain injuries, warm up before starting and cool down after you are finished by walking and stretching.
* Use steady, smooth motions to avoid injury.
* Protect yourself from the sun by wearing sunscreen, long-sleeved shirts and pants, and a wide-brimmed hat.
* Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated, especially if the temperature and humidity are high.
* When picking up tools or lifting bags of soil, bend your knees and keep your back straight.

Happy Gardening!