Through the wonderful generosity of the Arthur and Edith Pearson Foundation of Westhope, ND we are off to a great start in making garden dreams a reality!  With the funds provided by this Foundation there are now wheelchair accessible gardening beds at camp and a high tunnel (for keeping little plants warm on chilly days at nights in Spring and Fall!) will be added to the garden area this fall.  Into the future with these funds we will also be able to construct a small greenhouse to extend the growing season in this cool climate.

Another fantastic grant was received through the NDSU Jr Master Gardener program.  This grant will allow us to purchase and install irrigation lines in the garden so that the thirsty plants can get the water they need without someone standing in the garden for half a day with a garden hose!

Cold as it may have been, our dreams of a green, green garden kept us going all winter!

Still dreaming of a green garden (as we see snowbanks outside the windows). Here are some basil seedlings growing at the Parsonage!

All ready growing! Baby Kale seedlings strain towards the light getting ready for their spring debut in Metigrowshe Garden.

Spring is here even though it doesn’t look that way out our window today!   This past weekend at our first annual Grace-Filled Gardens Retreat we planted seeds for the camp garden and for participants gardens.  Just three days later these little Kale seeds are already growing strong in their pampered accommodations in the parsonage workshop.  Other seeds to sprout so far are Basil and Calendula, an edible flower!  Still waiting on some herbs and Bell Peppers to sprout, they like to take their time.  In a few weeks we’ll be adding tomato seeds to our seedling trays.  

It will be too cramped at the parsonage for all of the seedlings that are planned so we’ve been working on re-building an old greenhouse shed located near the Christian Center.  In a few weeks that will be up and running with electricity, grow lights, a heater and vents to keep our baby plants growing strong!

Check back in a few days for an update about what we’ve been working on over the winter!

2012 Nights of Christmas Details

Drum roll please….

Harvesting lettuces - over 30 pounds of organic lettuce were harvested and served at the Lodge this summer!

Over 100 pounds of garden produce harvested and eaten!  And that isn’t counting the many pounds that campers would eat fresh right off the vine or right out of the ground during our devotions at the end of their garden activity time!  Harvests include:  radishes, spinach, lettuce, herbs, chard, cucumbers, garden peas, sugar snap peas, green beans, carrots, potatoes and zucchini.

Campers working at garden tasks

It’s been a great first season so far with many campers of all ages participating in the garden, digging into the dirt and their faith as they watch the miracle of plants growing and producing!  It’s amazing how many kids have said “hey, this tastes really good!  I’ve never had this before!” and “our earth is awesome!”  More details about the summer to come and be looking for our final fall harvest tally later this year!  (still to ripen:  squash, tomato, pepper, pumpkin, melon, dry beans)

Garden in July