June 2014 Green Team Update
Folks,
One of the first things we notice about the Green Team at St Michael and All Angels's is that it does not get published very often. As the editor of it, I think about doing it often, but I always want to share something that is completed first! Well... I have some things to share from the growing side.
Since January when I started buying supplies, I have built a green house or hoop house that many amateur and professionals call the structure I have made. I followed several designs I found online, my major teacher for about everything. I have made mistakes, from which I have learned much and still am learning a great deal. I am not a master gardener, but one who likes to fiddle in a garden. No master gardener has come forward to help me in my task so mistakes happen.
So here is the hoop house or the farm as I tell my wife, Kim, where I spend so much of my time these days
Since February I have spent from two to eight hours a day working on this farm and a little in the adjacent outdoor chapel and composting units. As many of you know, I have multiple sclerosis and tire very fast when doing work that requires energy. This means that I often work thirty minutes, rest twenty, work thirty etc...
On hot days, my output may just last 10 minutes before resting. Heat really zaps me. Since May, my output has become limited so I work early in the morning and late in the afternoon or evening. Otherwise, you will find me in air conditioning on my bed or couch. But work is being done.
Tomatoes
This is our prime crop this year. In the greenhouse, I have about 45 plants of three variety, Celebrity, Roma and Marion. They all are producing some small fruit ( or is it vegetable)
These are the ones in the green house and these have grown fast, all organic. But they do take watering at least every day. This is difficult as I am still using a hose to water them. Hugh Wilson borrowed a backhoe for us to search for the waterline from the irrigation line from the pump in the woods. It took us forever and over 100 feet of digging 2 ft deep and finally found the line, that we broke. We found a special connector for the 2 inch pvc pipe and I also ran a line off of it to the greenhouse with an off/on switch outside the greenhouse. I also ran a line to the sink I installed at the rear of the greenhouse and one to an irrigation drip line that will be used in the greenhouse and outside in other gardens. ( I hope this is not too much info)
Well... that line is not working too great yet... been too hot for me to figure out why as it takes most of my time and energy to water all the crops. I also ran a trenching machine 125 ft to the power pole next to the irrigation pump for electricity. I have put in the conduit and will pull the wire next week to the greenhouse. This will give us our own power for lighting etc. We now run extension cords from the Dial house.
Speaking of crops. If you go back to the photo of the greenhouse, you will see a white barrel I cut in half as I needed more places to plant. On the one on the left I have several green bell peppers growing and on the right several flowers ( forgot what kind...cannot wait to I see a flower) I also built a small flower box in front of the greenhouse right above the peppers. Here I have some more flowers.
I purchased some trays of flowers from a lady in Kershaw who just grows veggies from seeds and sells flats at farmer's markets in Camden. She gave me some extras as it was a church project. So we had many tomatoes and marigolds ( these help with bad bugs). So I built an extra raised garden along the fence of the ELC and the kids come and talk about the daily progress. It is 3 feet wide and as soon as I cut some branches off a nearby tree, and allow some more sunshine, I will add some more squash. I mostly have Marion tomatoes in this garden, some basil and cukes. The cukes have grown up above the top of the fence and the kid love them. I am afraid they may pull the ones off within their reach once they start producing.
In the foreground of the photo on the left is a pallet that I am building a vertical garden that disabled folks can take care of from walkers and wheel chairs. I have some zucchini and basil growing in these and will add some more herbs soon. I have collected about 20 more pallets for our team to use for their own gardens. I recently tied up all the tomatoes seen here. It is so damn hot that it took me four mornings to get them done. I have found a velcro tape for tomato tying that works great. I just have run strings from poles to the fence. I hope rodents do not attack these tomatoes when they burst foward.
Now in the green house, I have Celebrity on the left and Roma on the right. They are on the tables and on the floor. They grow so fast that daily I am tying them to string and my velcro strips. I should have purchased small bush tomatoes, but I am still learning.
These are full of small tomatoes drink a lot daily. Tomatoes have both the male and female in each flower and bees usually brush the pollen from one to the other in the flower. I have learned that a child's electric toothbrush, vibrating at the base of the stem to the flowers does the same as the bees. So I have been doing this fertilization each time I visit. Before I go the toothbrush, I just flicked with my finger under each one and it has been working. I would like your input to learn how to distribute the crops! I have been thinking about our shut ins, Harvest Hope, homeless and just a bunch on the counter. I would love to have some of them canned for future spaghetti supper use or even Sunday Breakfasts.
Recycle, Reuse and Reduce
We recently had the gutters replaced on Sturdevant Hall. I asked Hugh to save them so we could sell the copper they are made of and I also wanted to make some planters. I had planned to attach them to the fence near the greenhouse, but decided to make a stand and put them next to the greenhouse. I found three decent ones, cut them to size and removed some of the hardware. I made a stair step stand and screwed them on. I filled them with some potting soil and transplanted some of the flowers I had been growing from seed and some herbs. I also had some cukes too for it too. This is Reusing something that might have been thrown away. We will recycle the rest and get about $3.00 per pound for the copper.
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I also have been collecting some white plastic barrels for us to make some rain barrels. As you can see in the photo below, I have 4 at the church and have 5 in another location. The Clemson Ext person has promised to come and do a free workshop for us. Well, almost free, as participants will have to pay twelve dollars for pieces and parts.
Some of the kids ( and we have so few) have been putting together bird houses and painting them. I still have three for them to do and hope in the next two weeks they will be complete. Three have been painted and are in the woods. This is good and they look great.
Before Pentecost Sunday, several of us led by Hugh Wilson and his big Backhoe, prepared the outdoor chapel for the service. After Hugh and I tore up the area looking for the water line, he then moved all the dirt left over from cemetery digging to the bigger driveway to make better parking for our older and disabled.Not some machinery that he uses daily, he spent the week making the small path into a 20 ft wide road and leveled it out. Richard Vandiver used a big ground cutter and cleaned out areas around the greenhouse, outdoor chapel and Bridgewood. Chris Beis came down the day before Pentecost and worked for hours with the rest of us spreading pine straw, removing rubbish, filling in holes and assembling the tent. Jim Lawler also came and helped with the tent and some other work. I used my riding lawn mower to cut many areas around the greenhouse, outdoor chapel and roadside. I also cut down some small trees that were in the way and hauled branches away. It was great on Pentecost to have the service in the clean outdoor chapel, a semi finished greenhouse and gardens and a big parking area for those who needed it. We had 74 people there, the largest crowd we have had in months!
I have no photos of the newest compost bin. Pie Sharp has donated two that we will use when we do a compost workshop sometime this summer. The cooking teams were great this spring saving their usable scraps for composting. They used the bin I built and put outside the kitchen. I have been trying to weekly empty it in the big bin. I cover the new composting material with new loose dirt. The guys who planted the flowers and rocks at the front of the sanctuary, put their left over dirt across from the compost bin and I use some on top of the compost every time. Marion Salter has donated one of Bill's old pitchforks for me to turn the compost and this will be great. I have not done it yet! Marion is also using some old flowers from Sturdevant Hall in our kitchen compost. I have used some old flowers from the churchyard too in the compost. Some folks like Cathy Cook are bringing compost from home and adding to our kitchen bin. Any of it is welcomed. I am also getting some green clippings from the landscape team. The nitrogen is great!
Monthly I take a truck load of electronic and electrical materials to the county's recycling area. SMAA is so good about bringing these things in for recycling. We take anything that has a cord on it and I can also recycle flash light batteries too. I think we might as a church do more than other houses of prayer in the Columbia area.
The three bins that Margaret Todd negotiated with Sonoco for recycling are being used well. They take plastic, newsprint, cardboard and magazine print. These bins below are in the trash bin area off the kitchen. We hope to have new bins in the church for these products soon. We do have a plastic bottle basket in the kitchen for recycling, behind the freezers.
Whew... that is a lot to talk about. I would like to thank Kim my wife who has helped me organize much of the "stuff" I have in the greenhouse to make things work. She also has helped me water the tomatoes several times. I will be happy to get the water connected as I will have a timer on it and will put drip lines to all plants. This will take some time to do this. The electricity will allow me to hang a florescent light which may allow me to work in the dark and cooler times.
Mark Thomas is going to be helping me as a part of an IB program of his at AC Flora. He needs a leadership project for the next two years, and I am really looking forward to working with him. I had him in Sunday School a few years ago and he was so bright and helpful. We need now to be planting seeds for fall and winter gardens. Yes... this is a year round greenhouse. We also want to do more with the outdoor chapel and related grounds. Our Green Team can help with this!
GREEN is more that Greenhouse... lets all get involved!
