CROP walk and Community Garden

Hello,

Yesterday Leroy and I walked in the CROP Walk. We pray that the money is used in the best way possible to help people on this earth. It gives us a satisfied feeling of doing something in the face of such large problems that do not show an easy solution. Our congregation had 20 walkers which I believe is a larger number than usual. For some reason there were just a few when we first came here. Giving was down a bit from last year, but that could be because people are looking inward a bit more as we approach a building renovation and organ purchase. Both of which are big ticket items. All of the needs bring to mind how much to keep for oneself and how much to pass on. I suppose there is never a time in life when one stops considering those issues.

This morning I went to the community garden. It has been a long time since I have been there as I have ceased waging war on the squash bugs. Some of the zucchini are still blooming. There must have been some zucchini, but I did not see any pickable ones today. Hopefully someone has picked and enjoyed them as last Monday, Leroy said, “There are some small zucchini that are not ready yet.”

I just said, “Oh, and forgot about them.”

I did not pick green beans even though there were some nice ones. The plants are wet and I was always told not pick when wet as they rust.

I did find a few tomatoes. Again I think someone is picking them right along as I mostly see green ones. There were some on the ground that I brought home or shared with a woman who said she will eat any vegetable. It is cool enough that no one is sitting on the porch so it makes the sharing much harder. I also left a nice amount of okra for her as well as bringing some home. I just realized I can share the okra with a guy on our street who likes it. I just leave it on his porch. I will do that when I am done here. I picked little broccoli shoots and brought them all home. The next delight was to pull/dig some green onions. I also shared some of them. I was pleased to see that someone is picking collards and Swiss chard. The cilantro is growing like crazy as it keeps reseeding.

Fall gardens are nice because the bugs have gone elsewhere. Where do bugs go for the winter?

Paula