We
hope everyone will join us this week for another market day at Pathfinder
Produce. We’ll be open on Thursday, May 8, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the
Village Commons. We plan on having some very nice hanging baskets and
other plants on sale for Mother’s Day as well.
***
This
past Friday was the first of our Village staff clean-up days for 2014, and
great strides have been made in the construction of the new hoop house that
will allow us to extend our growing season well into the fall. Several
weeks ago, Sr. Director of Quality Assurance Dan Osborn and Edmeston Central
School Food Service Director Brian Belknap started putting up the new
greenhouse, which was funded through grants from the 5-2-1-0 program, the
Hulbert Foundation, and the Blanding Foundation in support of our community
market and gardening initiative.
The
hoop house consists of sturdy metal-framed sides that are fastened to the
ground using heavy-duty stakes. The hoops, large metal arcs, lock into
the sides and then are secured in place with additional bracing. It’s a
lot like the old Tinker Toys, only bigger!
Last
Friday, the Maintenance Team moved in our growing frames – hefty boxes made of
unfinished boards that we’ve stacked to a height of two-feet. The
additional height is helpful for our students and residents, who may experience
back problems if they bend over to work for too long. All of the boxes
were put in place and then filled with a rich growing soil. Then to keep
everything dry, pea gravel was poured in around the growing boxes throughout
the structure. (A heavy duty weed barrier was placed down before hand to
prevent grass from poking through).
There
are a few more steps left to finishing the hoop house. Special fasteners are
used to cover it in protective heavy plastic, and of course the house will need
to be well-ventilated to prevent too much heat from parching our young
seedlings. In the coming days, our Pathfinder School students and other
residents will start planting all our garden favorites -- tomatoes, peppers,
lettuce, squash, and so on. Working in the garden will be part of their
regular activities; the resulting produce will be served during meals in our
Village homes, and will be sold at our weekly Thursday market.
Our
thanks go out to all who have supported our hoop house project, and we
encourage everyone to take part in gardening as a hobby. There are great sites
on the web on how to get started, and of course, there are many local gardeners
who are only too willing to give you helpful advice.
Until
next time, be well!
Lori
