We get an awful lot of work done on garden work days for sure. But what really makes us happy is seeing who shows up on a Saturday to toil in the garden. Staff and students from Jefferson High always rally to join. They sometimes surprise themselves to find how much they dig (pardon the pun) being among the chilies, squash and tomato vines on a weekend morning.
This month we were particularly pleased to see families show up together. Lisbeth, who comes to our Thursday after school cooking classes accompanied by her mother and sisters, also brought her father to the work day. He teamed up with our newest horticultural staff member, Jasan Givens, to relocate a VERY stubborn rosemary mountain – you couldn’t really call it a bush - that thing was huge!.
Our new friend, Ozabe Banks, owner of Money Saver’s Meats, stopped by with his son, Obi after a morning baseball game. They got to work clearing weeds and planting lettuce and they must have had a little fun because Ozabe called us out of the blue the following Saturday – “Hey, are you guys out in the garden again today?”
So just what do we do during a RootDown LA garden work day? Our horticultural programs manager, Ali Bhai, reported on the following (he forgot to mention the yummy eggs, toast, fruit salad and homemade salsa RootDown youth leaders made to feed the hungry gardeners!)
- Planted 2 avocado trees (Haas and Zutano)
- Planted 1 mango tree (WE REPEAT – WE NOW HAVE AVOS and MANGOES!!!!)
- Harvested remains of spring and summer crops – tomatoes, serrano peppers, and cucumbers – went home with volunteers
- Cut back overgrown rosemary bush (mountain) giving bunches away to volunteers
- Cleared, reamended soil with worm castings (poop), and planted lettuce, spinach, collards, cabbage, green onions, broccoli, radishes, sugar snap peas and winter squash
- Last but not least we weeded and mulched walkways
Thanks to everyone who came out to help us increase the supply of fruits and veggies in our neighborhood!
Let’s set this up for more than 1x a month. we’re building capacity….just need to do a bit more planning, organizing, but we’re there…
Thanks again for leading the charge! Jefferson could not do it without you and we are sooooooooooo grateful for your investment in our neighborhood and these programs! Thank you!!!