May Sarton said ~ “A garden is always a series of losses set against a few triumphs, like life itself.”

This year’s UUCB garden committee is putting the garden to bed for the winter of 2015 with a lot of triumphs from the past season.

In May, Ed Self, with the help of John Taylor, Sharon Belew and others,  successfully installed a drip system for watering our vegetables. Thanks to UUCB’s endowment committee we received a $500 grant to buy the materials for our system. This way of watering is an investment in the future because it dramatically reduces water consumption while lowering  the chances of plant disease. Our more efficient use of water contributes to UUCB’s Green Sanctuary philosophy.

The purpose of our church garden is to bring people together to learn and practice sustainability while growing local produce.

In June, we began harvesting lettuce, kale, and  other cool weather crops.

By the middle of July we were producing the sweetest cucumbers as well as these zucchinis that inspired squash lovers Deborah and Janen at one Sunday morning market!

In August we were able to share our bounty with church members at our Sunday morning Coffee hour which was served outside.

In September we began harvesting tomatoes and peppers for all the garden workers to enjoy, while we continued to offer a farmer’s market outside on Sunday mornings.

October’s mild weather allowed us to harvest a newly planted crop of beans and nasturtiums and continue to ripen our tomatoes and peppers.

We have Nature to thank for a successful summer garden as well as the many hard working garden committee regulars who will gather in November to celebrate the bounty with our annual Harvest dinner at Mary Jean and Peter Ewing’s house.

You may want to join the fun of gardening at UUCB in 2016.

The Garden’s irrigation drip system was installed by Ed Self, John Taylor and Sharon Belew on May 29th.

With all these days of cold and snow, do you have a touch of spring fever?  Well, Good!  Spring is around the corner, and with it glorious days in our UUCB garden enjoying our work together to grow delicious healthy food.  Come join us.  No experience is required, but welcome if you have it.

Garden catalogues are arriving in many mail boxes. It’s temptation time – what shall we grow this year? Come St. Patrick’s Day, it’ll be time to get those cool weather crops in the ground, like peas and lettuce and spinach.

If you are new to UUCB, or find yourself with time for new interests, the Garden group may be of interest to you. Several years ago we embarked on the creation of a community garden. This was an offshoot of our UUCB quest to gain UUA certification as a Green Sanctuary Church. We have had three full growing seasons and will be meeting on February 23th to lay plans for this year. Many members have found this a good way to learn how to plant, nurture and harvest their own food. Some have used this opportunity to share in an experience which might be too time consuming for them alone. Some without yards, want opportunity to work in the ground. Some want to share their knowledge and experience. Many enjoy the camaraderie and find this good work.

We will have a poster and signup sheet during coffee hours in early February. Our efforts are cooperative, each person doing what they have time to do. Every person who works on the garden is welcome to take home whatever produce they can use. The remainder is made available to the congregation. We have also donated to local food banks which have the capacity for fresh vegetables.

Our next meeting will be on Feb 23 from noon to 1:30pm in the Emerson Room. If you have interest but cannot attend, or have questions, please contact Sharon Belew.