Archives for July 2016

July 29, 2016 by Traci Eschbach

July Harvest Update

harvest As many of you know, the garden is in full bloom and we are officially maxed out with plants growing in every single bed! If you have strolled through the garden recently, I’m sure you would agree that the Lewisburg Community Garden has become a vibrant and beautiful place.

Not only is the garden aesthetically pleasing, but recently the garden has been turning out an incredible amount of produce that has been donated to food programs throughout the community. Thanks to the wonderful garden staff, the great plot renters, and the many volunteers that assist us each week, the garden has been reaping the rewards of one of its best growing seasons yet. At this point in the season, we have already harvested over 725 pounds of fresh, organic produce!

Thus far, the garden has successfully produced a bountiful harvest of strawberries, onions, garlic, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, turnips, herbs, and mixed greens, including kale, spinach, lettuce, mizuna,arugula, micro greens, collard greens, and chard. And this coming Monday we are expecting a harvest of over 100 pounds of spaghetti squash. Last year the garden produced a whopping 2,500 pounds of food and this season we are hoping to break over 3,000 pounds!

3,000 pounds of produce is truly a huge sum for our small area at the garden, and many of you may be wondering what we do with all these fruits and vegetables. Every single thing that is produced and harvested from the Lewisburg Community Garden is donated to a local food bank or hot meal program in the area. Here at the garden, we strive to make fresh, organic foods available to everyone in our community. Our main outlet for giving back to the community is through our hot meal program, Community Harvest. Community Harvest is a weekly community dinner held on Monday nights at the St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Milton. At Community Harvest, we try to provide a supply of fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs to be incorporated into the meal. Whatever produce isn’t used during Community Harvest is donated to local food banks throughout the area, including the Eastern County Food Bank, First Presbyterian Church of Lewisburg, Christ Wesleyan Church of Milton, the Donald Heiter Community Center, St. Pius X Catholic Church of Selinsgrove, St. Paul’s UCC of Selinsgrove, and Haven Ministry in Sunbury. Already this summer, we have been able to donate over 550 pounds of produce to assist our local community!

Our goal at the garden is to donate as much of the food produced as we can with as little waste as possible. So far this summer we are off to a great start!

IMG_20160629_114037556

July 27, 2016 by Matt Varner

My AmeriCorps Year with the LCG

As part of my final few days with the Lewisburg Community Garden and Bucknell University, I’ve been asked to write about what my experience over the past year has been like. Let me start off with a story that really showed me how far I feel I’ve come.

A few days ago, I was driving back to Lewisburg in the middle of a heavy thunderstorm during the early stages of rush hour traffic. I had been in the car for several hours and was getting anxious to arrive at home. After some traffic cleared, the road opened up again, but the rain started falling even harder. After a few more miles, I watched a car in the oncoming lane hydroplane over the median and collide with two cars 75 feet in front of me. One vehicle was relatively unscathed; it had only a big dent in the rear bumper. The others looked as though they had been hit by a grenade. In that moment I knew I had to do something to help. I pulled over, quickly prepared myself for the worst, and ran out into the rain to give first aid, clear the road, and help in any way I could.

Thankfully, nobody was severely injured or in need of any dramatic aid — airbags save lives but they’re really loud when they go off. Witnessing the accident, I’m incredibly thankful the worst injuries suffered were some temporary deafness and shock. With the help of one truck driver directing traffic, those involved in the accident quickly moved the vehicles and debris from the road and waited for authorities to arrive. For what had actually happened, the damages only seemed like a minor accident; but one person had a profound impact on me and how I see myself as part of this world. The driver of the least damaged vehicle was a registered nurse and tended to a small child who was shaken from the accident. She did so with an astounding grace and empathy for the child in that moment. She felt a sense of duty to help a total stranger in the pouring rain and not react in anger or frustration over the situation. Where many others would have panicked or escalated at the inconvenience, she knew she had a duty to others before herself. I realize now that this is the kind of person that I’ve always wanted to be. I think I’m closer to that ideal now and I have AmeriCorps and all the people around me to thank for that.

This past year was anything but the typical experience of an AmeriCorps VISTA member. I left a term of service with my former host project a month early because this opportunity presented itself as such a unique way to increase food security in a more rural area. As much as our political and economic systems claim they care about small towns and rural parts of the United States, policy doesn’t always reflect that. It takes projects like the Lewisburg Community Garden to demonstrate how small communities can have a meaningful impact. When I heard about how this program operates, I knew I had to be a part of it.

I was excited and terrified to come into the program. As a graduate of Susquehanna University, I had been to Lewisburg many times and I relished the thought of living in such a beautiful, charming, and vibrant town. I also felt blessed for the opportunity to serve at an institution with the prestige of Bucknell University, especially considering the rejection letter I got from them in high school and never told my parents about (sorry mom and dad!). I was excited for where my life was going, until I realized I knew nothing about how to grow plants or effectively run a garden. I thought suckering a tomato had a drastically different meaning than it actually does. I learned pretty quickly how to be effective in my job thanks to spending a week with the former VISTA Kevin Zuidervliet, as well as Mark Spiro and Kyle Bray. I got the hang of it pretty quickly and before I knew it, I was growing actual food. ~~Good~~ Great food in fact.

Growing things and managing the Garden space quickly became my passion. I was happy to be just a few blocks away from the garden, knowing I could go over any time and enjoy this hub of sustainable, organically-grown produce. I loved seeing students interact with nature and life itself instead of their phones. It was exhausting but I was sad to see the garden close for the season. During that time after we decided to pilot some season extension techniques and I got really, really good at building low tunnels. We kept growing through the most mild November I can remember and all the way up to the end of the term. In all, our season extension bore an extra 125 pounds of produce during a time when people have the least access to it. Donating fresh spinach, kale, carrots, and turnips at that time of the year filled me with pride. I knew we were doing the right thing even though it wasn’t easy.

My greatest challenge of the year was about to start, but thankfully I had learned to trust the people around me to overcome all the obstacles in place. The LCG’s Plant Sale required far more planning than I ever could have imagined. It sounds so simple.. Grow 2000-3000+ plants for a fundraiser sale. Tomatoes always do well and so do flowers. Grow things that people want. Super easy until you have to figure out how to vernalize an artichoke, germinate black eyed susans in the refrigerator, and fit 1600 plant starts under 4 growing lights at the same time. Once we figured out how to do all that, the plants were strong enough to go to the greenhouse. Now you have to move 2000-3000 plants in a sedan in the middle of winter to a greenhouse where you’ll eventually have to transplant them into a bigger container. January through April was mentally exhausting, and I couldn’t wait for May to come for this to be over with. Clearly, I wasn’t thinking about how hot this summer would be out at the garden.

The Plant Sale itself was my high point for the year — not just because we raised a lot of money, but because we saw how willing the Greater Lewisburg community was to support us and our mission. We sold a few thousand plants, raised a few thousand dollars, and got the Garden ready for a great summer. I have to take a minute to thank everyone who helped with this, from the Office of Civic Engagement staff at the sale, the work study students who grew and cared for all these plants, and all the volunteers in between. Nothing this successful is ever done alone and without some blood, sweat, and tears shed for the cause. I owe my success to those who guided me and worked alongside me over this past year.

Once the sale was over, there was no time to relax. It was time to get the Garden back up and running again. Our office hired two really fantastic Summer AmeriCorps members, both recent graduates, to tackle some of the Garden’s summer problems. Two more interns and two of our work study students have been instrumental in making the garden all it is right now. Meghan, Traci, Seneca, Caroline, Taylor, and Katie have all worked extremely hard on getting the Garden to such a great place. I think by next week, we will be 1000 pounds into our goal of growing 3000 pounds of produce this year. I’m filled with pride at the work and dedication put into the Garden and I’m delighted to see so many likeminded people buy into our mission.

I think this summer has been the most trying and most rewarding time of my life. It also embodies a lot of the struggles that any AmeriCorps member faces. My living situation changed and I needed a second job to make ends meet. I found a great opportunity managing the Glenpool Club during any spare hours that I had, but I inevitably stretched myself pretty thin. I was still in the hunt for my next job, all while dealing with the reality of my 12-month lease ending during my 13-month job appointment. The mental anguish of working your butt off at two jobs while facing potential joblessness and homelessness is really difficult to swallow. You don’t get this far into AmeriCorps without having plenty of people by your side to help you, and the Lewisburg community did not disappoint or abandon me. I got far more offers of support than I ever should have expected and I knew I was surrounded by genuinely great people.

The Glenpool Club job gave me a great opportunity that I never would have taken on my own: I had to become a certified lifeguard in order to work for them. Lifeguards are trained on how to react during an emergency and know that you may be called on at any moment to save someone. I took and passed the class and finally felt prepared to contribute if there was any kind of emergency at hand. And that brings me back to the car crash.

The crash occurred on PA-33 N, a corridor between US-22 and I-80 in the Lehigh Valley. I never thought I would be there until two weeks ago. I was coming back from seeing apartments in Bethlehem, where I will be starting an amazing new job at the beginning of August. I saw what had happened and knew in the moment that I had the skills to help the situation. More importantly, I had the courage to pull over and get out of my car in the pouring rain rather than just keep going. I don’t like to think about it but the old me would have probably kept driving. This past year gave me the ability to make a difference in the face of uncertainty. I’m far better equipped to handle all the challenges of life have an impact in people’s lives. If the worst happens to me, I can still grow my own food and survive off the land. I found a new way to love food and appreciate all the hard work it takes to feed the world and do so in an ethical and sustainable way. I never forgot that you don’t get to choose the people who need your help. Most importantly, I figured out how to learn from my mistakes and remember that failure isn’t the end of the world. Sometimes seeds don’t germinate and plants die. Sometimes people don’t like the food that you cook. Failure is only failure if you don’t learn something from it so never be afraid of it.

Lewisburg itself brought out a lot of good in me and I’ll miss it when I leave on Saturday. I’ve gotten a lot of good advice over this year and I hope you’ve learned something from my year here. My best piece of advice to carry with you comes from the late Jimmy Valvano, the former coach of the improbable 1983 National Champion North Carolina State University basketball team:

Special thanks to my amazing parents John and Sue, plus my family, Katie & the rest of the McGuire’s, Natalie Seidhof, Janice Butler, Lynn Pierson, Holly Valentine, Jose Figueroa, Kevin Zuidervliet, Mark Spiro, Lisa Landis, Rose Saville-Iksic, Meg Ritchie, Taylor McCready, Erin Reph, Katie Dwyer, Robbie Johnson, Meghan Ballot, Traci Eschbach, Seneca Burgess, Caroline Kunkel, Ethan Cohen, Sarah Och, Avery Snyder, Mitch Pertimoulx, Rachel Bergin, Marlena Schnyder, Josh Goheen, Levi Craft, Bruce Jackson, Garrett & Renee, Naba Muhktar, Sarah Garnitz, Char Gray, Alex Roche, Dylan Lahm, Ken Lambert, Lucio Perez, Andy Dessel, Carey Sentman, Victoria Gaffney, Mike Renaldi, & all my PACC VISTAs, Ellen Robinson, Gabriele Antensteiner, Henry Harrison, Sam Storm, Susan, John, and Thomas Lantz, Meadowbrook Christian School, Alissa Wolfe, Suk, Rich, and Irene Ganahl, Terri Williams, Stacy Hinck, Eustacia Muir, Belinda Bergin, Megan Mulligan & The Glenpool Club Board and Lifeguards, the LCG Advisory Board, Mozart the Garden Cat, and most importantly Kyle Bray, supervisor extraordinaire and all-around awesome guy. My apologies to anyone I may have missed.

Also, it wouldn’t be me posting something about my life without sharing a photo of this goofball. Thanks for the unconditional love Sunny

July 20, 2016 by meb057

10 Easy Ways to be More Eco-Friendly

shutterstock_248735269

Here at the garden, we aim to have a positive impact on the environment. Growing your own food is one big way of helping the environment, but there are many other choices we can make to help out in this endeavor.

Unfortunately, many of the choices that are out there are also ones that cost a great deal of time and money that some do not have to spare. For instance, many of you reading this can probably attest to the time it takes to grow your own food and to do it well. So then we might ask, what are some small changes that one can make in their day to help the environment when their resources are limited?

I’ve compiled a list of suggestions here that I think fit that criteria. While not all of these suggestions will be applicable to everyone, I hope everyone can find something from this list that they find helpful!

Cook smart. Don’t let kitchen appliances use more energy than they need. For instance, use a stovetop burner that is the same size as the pot or pan you are cooking in. If the burner you use is larger than the pot or pan itself, then energy is being wasted through the heat that dissipates from the uncovered burner space. Additionally, turning your oven off ten minutes before the end of cooking time will allow the trapped heat to finish cooking and will reduce wasted energy.
Meatless Mondays. If you are not already a vegetarian, going fully meatless might seem like a daunting task. However, its environmental impact can be huge. For a family of four, going meat-free for one even day a week may have almost the same environmental impact as driving a hybrid car. If you need some ideas for cheap vegetarian recipes, check out the vegetarian section of one of my favorite recipe blogs, Budget Bytes.
Store fresh produce properly in order to reduce food waste. By knowing the proper storage for fresh produce, we can extend its shelf life and therefore reduce the food we waste in our homes. Use this quick, handy guide to know the best practices for storing produce.
Go paperless in your kitchen. Avoid the waste produced by paper products in your kitchen, particularly paper towels and napkins, by using cloth products such as kitchen towels and cloth napkins in their place. Follow these tips and you can make steps towards saving the environment and saving money at the same time.
Use homemade non-toxic cleaners. Ditch those store-bought cleaning products that can pollute the air and replace them with some of these substitutions. That webpage is a great resource with many different homemade formulas, including air fresheners, rust remover, a cleaner for carpet stains, and more. While some are more complicated, most of them are easier and cheaper than you’d think, requiring only a couple of simple ingredients that you might already have in your home, such as baking soda, lemon juice, vinegar, or hydrogen peroxide.
Air-dry your laundry. Laundry dryers use a great deal of energy, so try switching to air-drying whenever possible. Set up a clothesline outside in warmer months if you have the outdoor space. If the weather doesn’t allow for it or you don’t have outdoor space, dry indoors by using a drying rack or by hanging clothes on hangers and over doors, shower rods, and chairs.
Stop idling. Many of us think that turning off and restarting a car uses more energy than it takes to keep the engine running for the time we are stopped. However, it turns out that idling for any longer than ten seconds uses more energy than it takes to turn off and turn back on the engine. If you have a car, keep this fact in mind to make an easy and energy-efficient change!
Take shorter showers. This is one that many of us know, but find hard-pressed to give up. But the impact it can make is huge—showering for a few minutes less every day can save thousands of gallons of water in a year. If you find it hard to cut down your showering time, try turning the water off when you’re not really using it, such as when you are lathering your shampoo or body soap.
Don’t flush every time. This one might seem controversial to you if you’re keen on cleanliness, but it’s sometimes it’s safe to leave a toilet without flushing. Apparently there’s an Australian saying that goes, “If it’s yellow that’s mellow, if it’s brown flush it down,” and a Caribbean saying, “In the land of sun and fun, we do not flush for No. 1.” Follow those mantras and you can save water usage (and money, if you pay for your water).
Secondhand shopping. Before going to buy brand new items, such as clothes, books, or appliances, stop and ask yourself if you could buy used items instead. Additionally, instead of throwing out old items that you are not planning on using them anymore, donate them or take them to a secondhand store where they can be resold. Similarly, think about borrowing before buying, whether it be borrowing an appliance from a neighbor or borrowing a book from the library.

Even if you can only manage a couple of these changes, you can still make a positive impact! Being eco-friendly shouldn’t be a source of stress, but rather something that you integrate into your life where you are able.

Thanks for reading!

References:
http://www.thehcf.org/antiidlingprimer.html
http://greatist.com/health/how-to-ways-reduce-food-waste
http://greatist.com/happiness/eco-friendly-tips-save-cash
http://www.sheknows.com/home-and-gardening/articles/807479/52-cheap-ways-to-go-green/

July 18, 2016 by Traci Eschbach

The Health Benefits of Gardening

With the many stresses of work and everyday life, we often find it difficult to take time to relax and rewind from our busy lifestyles. However an easy way to find peace and relaxation can be found in the comforts of our own backyard. Although sometimes tedious and challenging, planting and cultivating your own produce can be an incredibly rewarding experience. It is obvious that home gardening is a great way to beautify your neighborhood and to provide yourself with many wholesome fruits and vegetables, but it does much more than that. Gardening can make you both happier and healthier.

garden

Stress Relief

Allowing individuals to spend time outside, gardening provides them with a time to reflect on the beauty of nature. The process of planting seeds, nurturing them, and watching them grow successfully into blooming plants is rewarding for everyone involved. Gardening allows individuals to connect with nature, in both a physical and emotional sense. Since this time in nature is spent focusing on the health and wellbeing of the plants, gardening can become the perfect way to clear your mind and relieve you from stress. Spend more time focusing on the health of your peppers and tomatoes and less time worrying about other everyday stresses.

Mental Health

The mental health benefits of gardening have been proven time and time again; getting your hands a little dirty can do wonders for your mental wellbeing. Gardening allows us to become nurturers of plants and gives us the responsibility of caring for them. When individuals are held responsible for the health of another living thing, they spend less time thinking about themselves. Self absorption is a huge contributor to depression, so allowing us to think more about the big picture, gardening can greatly decrease the side effects of both depression and anxiety.

Also, the act of harvesting fruits, vegetables, and herbs for dinner from our own backyards can be greatly satisfying. Knowing that you grew your vegetables with your own two hands is rewarding. Since gardens can make individuals feel satisfied in the hard work they put into them, often gardening is seen as a natural form of antidepressant. Taking part in the process of creating food for yourself and your family can be a huge boost to your self esteem and your sense of purpose.

Physical Health

Although most gardening does not require a huge amount of extraneous activity, the repetitive act of digging, planting, and weeding a garden can serve as an excellent form of cardiovascular activity. Especially for the older generation, the disabled, and those suffering from chronic pain, routine tasks of gardening provide an excellent form of low-impact exercise. Some research suggests that the physical activity associated with gardening can also help lower the risk of developing dementia. Studies have shown that gardeners in their 60s and 70s had a significantly lower risk of developing dementia than their non-gardening counterparts. These studies suggest that the combination of physical and mental activity involved in gardening may have a positive influence on the health of the mind.

Fresh, Local Foods

Another plus to gardening is the food, of course. Not only is gardening a great source of mental wellbeing and exercise, but it is also an amazing source of fresh fruits and vegetables. The food you grow for yourself is the freshest food you can find. And because home gardens are filled with fruits and vegetables, it’s also among the healthiest food you can eat. Not surprisingly, studies show that people who garden eat more fruits and vegetables than their non-gardening peers. Produce that you grow in your own backyard is generally safe from harmful pesticides and the other woes of the industrial agriculture system. And its doesn’t have to travel hundreds, or even thousands, of miles to get to your plate! Food produced in your own backyard garden is all natural, locally grown food. Something that you can feel good about eating, both physically and morally.

With all of the positive impacts of gardening for both the mind and the body, everybody should be spending more time in their backyard gardens. The world might be a happier and healthier place if more individuals took the time to experience the benefits of gardening.

Source: Harding, A., & 2011, C. H. (2011). Why gardening is good for your health. Retrieved July 13, 2016, from http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/07/08/why.gardening.good/