For spring semester 2009 we will be having meetings:
On Tuesdays from 12-1 p.m. in Wright Hall room 232
We would love all those who are interested to come show up!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Work Party Saturday, September 20!
This Saturday, September 20, the Smith Community Garden will be having a work party! Drop in anytime from 10AM-3PM to weed, harvest, and construct raised beds. Come if you've never worked in a garden or if you've been working in one forever. A group will meet at 9:45 in front of the art museum to walk down together, or you can follow the chalked arrows on the sidewalk. Directions to the garden are on the right-hand navigation bar. See you there!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Go get some grub!
What a wet week we have been washed with!
Well, one thing is for certain- those thirsty plants are all the more succulent for it.
Today, four full heads of lettuce (Jericho Romaine and Red Iceberg) were proudly delivered to the Campus Center Cafe, along with what Ann Finley referred to as a "good sized bunch" of fragrant dill.
Tomorrow, the wonderful CC cafe dining staff will unveil their community-garden inspired dishes to the masses- or to several hungry Smithies, academics, administrators, perhaps even an alum or two.
Consider this your invitation- witness this first step toward a fuller integration of farm to fork, of garden to classroom, of participatory dining. Better yet, taste it!
Look out for more community garden and CC cafe collaborations this summer-
and stay tuned for a Pasta Sauce Canning and Pesto Making Party
Come see the tomatoes ripen on the vine, the cosmos blossoms open, the peppers and bean plants bear their fruit, and more exciting garden adventures.
Email smithgarden@gmail.com if you'd like a tour or want to come help out!
Keep Scrolling Down for New Photos (on the previous posting)!
Well, one thing is for certain- those thirsty plants are all the more succulent for it.
Today, four full heads of lettuce (Jericho Romaine and Red Iceberg) were proudly delivered to the Campus Center Cafe, along with what Ann Finley referred to as a "good sized bunch" of fragrant dill.
Tomorrow, the wonderful CC cafe dining staff will unveil their community-garden inspired dishes to the masses- or to several hungry Smithies, academics, administrators, perhaps even an alum or two.
Consider this your invitation- witness this first step toward a fuller integration of farm to fork, of garden to classroom, of participatory dining. Better yet, taste it!
Look out for more community garden and CC cafe collaborations this summer-
and stay tuned for a Pasta Sauce Canning and Pesto Making Party
Come see the tomatoes ripen on the vine, the cosmos blossoms open, the peppers and bean plants bear their fruit, and more exciting garden adventures.
Email smithgarden@gmail.com if you'd like a tour or want to come help out!
Keep Scrolling Down for New Photos (on the previous posting)!
Friday, July 18, 2008
My, How We've Grown!
Nearly a month ago, on Saturday, June 21st, four diligent set about planting in bed #4 and tending to the mass of weeds that seemed to have sprung up overnight around the parameter of the garden. Yes, summer is indeed a time for rapid growth.
After a few weeks out of the state, I returned to find that the tomato stalks had become a massive jungle, the heads of lettuce are now the size of small shrubberies, and the basil, dill, and flax have shot up to above-knee height. The wheat has changed to a pleasant golden brown and has acquired its "spikelets" (flowering heads). We have a few promising cherry tomatoes dangling, and even a head of broccoli, making a grand entrance, concealed by its broad, dramatic leaves.
I stood in sheer surprise at the transformation that had taken place seemingly overnight. Then I got to work staking the tomatoes, weeding around the not-yet-fruiting peppers and beans, and wondering what to do with all those big beautiful heads of lettuce. Here are some thoughts I have:
-Giving several heads for the Campus Center to make signature salads for those meal-plan-bound Smithies
-Donating to the Northampton Survival Center
-Bringing up a big hoard of hungry Smithies to harvest for a garden salad.
-Inviting Fort Hill kids to come pick, learn, and devour.
-Sending out a call-to-arms to our volunteers and neighbors.
Once the tomatoes develop, we will try to orchestrate a preserving party to make tomato sauce for those dreary winter months (or sooner!) Stay tuned.
Please let us know if you have any ideas for where the harvest should go, both in the summertime and come fall. Send ideas to:
smithgarden@gmail.com
Also, let us know if you're interested in getting in on the action- helping weed, bringing a head of lettuce or bunch of basil home, partaking in an activity with the Fort Hill kids, whatever strikes your fancy.
Yours in vegetable-solidarity,
Caroline
Monday, June 16, 2008
Summer's Second Work Party!
Hello Gardeners!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
We think it's high time for another...
Smith Community Garden Work Party!
When
Sat, Jun 21, 2pm – 5pm
Where
Fort Hill site (see map)
Description
Please come join us for another round of bed-mak ing and planting. We'll have snacks, music, and refreshments. Please bring any tools you can rustle up and a water bottle! Join us for our after-party potluck as well! RSVP smithgarden@gmail.com
After-Party Potluck
When
Sat, Jun 21, 5pm – 7pm
Description
A hard-working gardener deserves a well-made potluck meal- please bring a dish to share: please post your dish with an RSVP as a comment so we don't get 3 casseroles. Refreshments will be provided. Potluck will take place at Mariah Wyman and friends' apartment nearby.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DIRECTIONS to Garden:
Directions from Smith Campus (10-15 minute walk):
Take Elm/Main St/Rte. 9 towards downtown Northampton. At the traffic light by the Academy of Music, turn right onto South St/Rte. 10 S. Follow South St. through one set of lights and take your second left after the lights, Lyman Road. The entrance to Fort Hill is a one-way driveway on your left at the far end of Lyman Road. Smith Community Garden is next to TRACES, the old Victorian building.
Hope to see you there!
-the garden
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
We think it's high time for another...
Smith Community Garden Work Party!
When
Sat, Jun 21, 2pm – 5pm
Where
Fort Hill site (see map)
Description
Please come join us for another round of bed-mak ing and planting. We'll have snacks, music, and refreshments. Please bring any tools you can rustle up and a water bottle! Join us for our after-party potluck as well! RSVP smithgarden@gmail.com
After-Party Potluck
When
Sat, Jun 21, 5pm – 7pm
Description
A hard-working gardener deserves a well-made potluck meal- please bring a dish to share: please post your dish with an RSVP as a comment so we don't get 3 casseroles. Refreshments will be provided. Potluck will take place at Mariah Wyman and friends' apartment nearby.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DIRECTIONS to Garden:
Directions from Smith Campus (10-15 minute walk):
Take Elm/Main St/Rte. 9 towards downtown Northampton. At the traffic light by the Academy of Music, turn right onto South St/Rte. 10 S. Follow South St. through one set of lights and take your second left after the lights, Lyman Road. The entrance to Fort Hill is a one-way driveway on your left at the far end of Lyman Road. Smith Community Garden is next to TRACES, the old Victorian building.
Hope to see you there!
-the garden
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Post-Work Party Update
A hot, humid day at the garden Site. Friends arrived on the site to see a small rabbit hopping from the scene. Later we found a small patch of trampled wheat in our box. I think we have a new mascot.
Raised bed #4, aka "The Beast" was finally completed. The challenges?
- assembling one side with two rows of planks, and keeping the boards from buckling
- driving nails into the (dense) white pine and (slightly warped) recycled wood
The benefits? A lovely, sustainably built raised bed, now home to several happy spinach, lettuce, and tomato plants.
The Beast, and his slightly milder, smaller brother were filled in with gravel and sand (to improve drainage), and then lavished with soil (kindly provided by Bob Dombkowski, Supervisor of Grounds) and Smith's specialty compost. Thanks also to Gaby Immerman of the Botanic Garden for lending us several shovels, trowels, and buckets to equip our workers. Several seedlings (kindly donated by the Northfield Mount Hermon school program and friend, Laura Fisher) were transplanted into rows, watered and labelled.
Also thanks to Frank Perman, Supervisor of Plumbing and Heating, for providing the Garden with H2O! Our thirsty plants appreciated a good dousing after a hot day. (And so did we).
Spring onions, cherokee purple and cherry bomb tomatoes, sweet basil, peppers, nasturtiums, spinach and several varieties of lettuce are formally part of the Smith Garden Family, joining a thriving crop of Red Fife wheat and just-sprouting dill, parsley, poppies, nasturtiums, and flax.
The work party was finished off with a celebratory, and much-needed trip to Herrell's ice cream. Join us next time for more planting, building, sweating at the Site.
Raised bed #4, aka "The Beast" was finally completed. The challenges?
- assembling one side with two rows of planks, and keeping the boards from buckling
- driving nails into the (dense) white pine and (slightly warped) recycled wood
The benefits? A lovely, sustainably built raised bed, now home to several happy spinach, lettuce, and tomato plants.
The Beast, and his slightly milder, smaller brother were filled in with gravel and sand (to improve drainage), and then lavished with soil (kindly provided by Bob Dombkowski, Supervisor of Grounds) and Smith's specialty compost. Thanks also to Gaby Immerman of the Botanic Garden for lending us several shovels, trowels, and buckets to equip our workers. Several seedlings (kindly donated by the Northfield Mount Hermon school program and friend, Laura Fisher) were transplanted into rows, watered and labelled.
Also thanks to Frank Perman, Supervisor of Plumbing and Heating, for providing the Garden with H2O! Our thirsty plants appreciated a good dousing after a hot day. (And so did we).
Spring onions, cherokee purple and cherry bomb tomatoes, sweet basil, peppers, nasturtiums, spinach and several varieties of lettuce are formally part of the Smith Garden Family, joining a thriving crop of Red Fife wheat and just-sprouting dill, parsley, poppies, nasturtiums, and flax.
The work party was finished off with a celebratory, and much-needed trip to Herrell's ice cream. Join us next time for more planting, building, sweating at the Site.
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