Putting the Garden to sleep for the winter

Hello Folks!

Anna, Guenther, and Morgan had some help from about 6-8 lovely volunteers on Saturday Oct. 14th from 1:30pm-3:30pm. We gathered the pumpkin, potato, and acorn squash residue and took turns "wheel barrowing" to our compost pile. After the garden was cleared from most of the garden, we used hoes and shovels to turn over the soil and to make the soil loose for the oat seeds. We also even-ed out the soil from the beds along the pathways that were created this summer.

Working the soil was the hardest and labor intensive part of the work day on Saturday. But with good company and snacks from Guenther and Kate, we were all sustained in little ways. We then threw oats seeds throughout the garden which would serve as our cover crop.

From our preliminary research, oat seed was the best choice for cover cropping. Despite the late timing in cover cropping, there could still be potential for it to grow. According the UCDavis, oat seeds do fairly well in cool and moist weather conditions and will eventually winter kill but can still serve as mulch for erosion control and prevent weeds from sprouting.

More research still needs to be conducted on the germination of oat seeds and its benefits and potential problems.

Garden Project updates
Beth Hooker, Sandra Postel, Ruby Maddox, Sarah, Morgan, Guenther, and Anna met on Friday afternoon (Oct. 12th) to discuss the long-term plans for the Garden as well as the organization and roles of the students and administration. We are planning to meet again in the coming weeks to finalize all this. In the meantime, Morgan, Sarah, Guenther, and Anna are compiling documents/data/and notes about the Garden during the summer and what has been happening presently.

Garden Society updates
Now that the Harvest is over and Anna Lappe has gone, our current project is the Real Food Summit at Yale which will be happening on Nov. 3-4th. As a collective group, we chose Morgan, Guenther, Lena, and Elise as our delegates! Sarah Lince will be going as one of the planning committee members.
We have a Five College Potluck this coming Friday Oct 19th from 6-9pm at the Mount Holyoke FP house (across from the MHC gates and on 116), to discuss and have a dialouge about: What do we want to get out of the summit? How can we expand our networks among college campuses about local food? How can we incorporate local food onto college campuses? Come for some delicious food and a great discussion.
Please e-mail Sarah Lince: lince20s@mtholyoke.edu if you would like to help out.
Please e-mail Alison Grantham: grant20a@mtholyoke.edu if you would like to share something to eat.

Unfortunately, we were unable to take pictures during our work day yesterday but it went very well and the weather was gorgeous. And...we made friends with a neighbor's cat after our work day! It was a nice way to end the day.

Thanks again to our wonderful volunteers who came to help out!!!

~Garden Love~