Dundee Community Garden This Week

Hello Dundee Community Gardeners and Friends,

Gardening Tip of the Week: (courtesy of Master Gardener Rebecca Reagan)
Continue to sow greens in your garden for an extended season. Select heat-resistant varieties, and for best results, sow small amounts about every 10 days. Choose the shadier side of your plot, perhaps in the shadow of your tomatoes or other tall crop. The greens will appreciate the shade, instead of the baking sun of summer.

Work Day this Saturday: Our next work day will be this Sat. June 4, 10-12. With the rain days, we've gotten behind in our planting-- we'd like to finish up planting the produce this weekend! And we've got cannas to plant, and there's weeding and general clean-up that we need to do to get the garden in shape... Come when you can! We ask all members to volunteer eight hours during the course of the gardening season. Please remember to record your volunteer hours on the log in the garden.

Neighborhood Food Swap Every Monday The weekly food swap will be held every Monday evening at 7 pm, at the Dundee Community Garden. Residents are invited to bring their surplus garden produce, baked goods, homemade jam, and more to trade with their neighbors. Gardeners, consider swapping your surplus greens, radishes, etc!!! Help Dundee become a "Food Community!"

Grass Clippings: We need lots!! Please bring some if you can!


Sunday June 12 Ice Cream Social, 3-5 p.m. Ice cream sundaes and great toppings for $1. We'll be painting stakes to mark your garden plot. And our tomato cages were such a success at the Dundee Spring Fling that we're planning to make another batch of them to sell at the ice cream social-- this is your chance if you missed out on Saturday.

Help Mowing: We're still looking for a third volunteer to help us keep up on the mowing.

Watering: Please remember that rain water is the best water to use on your garden plot. You can get rain water out of the blue rain barrels or the "white whale" large water container.

Coming in early June: Shed-Raising Party. We'll get a crew together to build a covered tool rack/sign board. If you are handy with tools and would like to help build the shed, contact Curt Hickman at curt3@cox.net

COMMUNITY EVENTS:

Permaculture Workshop Thurs. June 2, 5:30-7:30, at Hands to Harvest Community Garden, 1113 S. 31st St. (between Pacific and Poppleton)
Free Permaculture Workshop -- Building an Herb Spiral
Everyone will receive hand-outs about the basics of permaculture, easy ideas to incorporate into your garden, and information on herb spirals. Then... we will do some work building an herb spiral for all Hands to Harvest gardeners to enjoy.

What is Permaculture? Permaculture is sustainable land use design. Based on ecological and biological principles and using patterns that occur in nature to maximize effect and minimize work. Permaculture aims to create stable, productive systems that provide for human needs while harmoniously integrating the land with its inhabitants. And what is an Herb Spiral? Come and find out!

FOOD COMMUNITY INITIATIVE: Neighborhood Fruit Registry: If you own fruit trees or berry bushes whose harvest you are willing to share, or if you would like to pick fresh local fruit, register at www.neighborhoodfruit.com. The fruit owner notifies the registry when the fruit is ready to harvest. Volunteers are given a time and place to pick fruit. A share goes to the owner, and the rest is divided amongst the volunteers.

FOOD COMMUNITY INITIATIVE: Yardsharing. Neighbors who would like to garden but have no sun, and neighbors who have a sunny yard but do not garden, can pair up through the website, www.sharingbackyards.com. This website offers a secure way to connect landowner and gardener, along with tips on how to set up a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Food Deserts and Public Policy Forum, Wed. June 15, 6-8 p.m. at UNO
What are food deserts? Why do they exist? And more importantly, what can be done about them? According to the US Centers for Disease Control, a food desert is an area that lacks access to affordable and healthy foods that make up a nutritious diet. Many believe that the presence of food deserts may be related to wide-ranging, preventable health problems in both rural and urban America.
On June 15, 2011, Senator Brenda Council will facilitate a panel that will focus on food deserts and their causes. Forum panelists include Rev. Stephanie Alschwede, Fritz Nordengren and Dr. Courtney Pinard, who will explore local and state policy approaches as well as community initiatives to effectively address food deserts.
More information at http://ppc.nebraska.edu/SorensenSemina/FoodDesertsandPublicPolicy&year=2011

Beginning Vegetable Gardening Workshop/Demonstration Series, with UNL Master Gardeners. The Master Gardeners are offering a series of free demonstration classes on beginning vegetable gardening May 7-June 18. Next workshop is June 4 on “Vegetable Gardening in Small Spaces and in Containers.” See attachment for full schedule.