This was a productive week in terms of VIC planning and in terms of vegetables harvested. After our meetings with Nancy Walters (Easton Hunger Coalition) and Sarah Fried (Lafayette Dining Services) we were able to report back to the VIC team with updates. Peter Todaro and Miranda Wilcha, the two summer 2015 Digital Humanities Scholars, were able to attend this week’s VIC meeting. We were able to discuss our shared goals. Peter and Miranda’s digital humanities project will provide Easton residents with information on where and how to access fresh, affordable, and locally grown produce. We will all be working together closely throughout the summer in order to acheive our common goals of bringing the community together with fresh produce.
We have now confirmed that we will have fridge space in Farinon this summer. Sarah gave us the good news when we met with her on Tuesday afternoon! Since Marquis is under renovation, we did not think we would have access to a fridge on campus. Luckily there is space for us in the basement of Farinon.
As for news at LaFarm, there is now a washing station set up to wash our harvest on site with potable water! This will certainly make the harvest/distribution day process easier. We now also have new containers for harvesting. They are easily stackable, carry-able, and washable. Instead of harvesting for both LaFarm’s campus farm stand and the VIC Veggie Stand on Thursdays, we will solely be harvesting for VIC because the LaFarm stand will no longer be on Thursdays this summer.
We have begun to meet more community gardeners (and, as of Friday, new LaFarm interns). Now we must begin to remind community gardeners at LaFarm and in the West Ward of the opportunity to donate produce to the Veggie Stand throughout the summer. Alex, a resident of Easton and VIC team member, will be working to connect us with the West Easton Rehab Garden and the Lower Hackett garden. Unfortunately, Yvonne’s Friends and Family garden is no longer growing produce this summer. We will miss working with Yvonne! With the Urban Farm’s expansion, the current community gardens, and produce from LaFarm we will certainly an abundance of produce for the West Ward community.
At the Urban Farm we spent most of our time this week stringing tomatoes. Those plants are getting large! We also put up another cucumber trellis and planted several seed varieties of cucumbers. Rachel and I are becoming masters of string tying.
We weeded a lot this week, but it was all worth it because we have begun to harvest a bunch of peas, strawberries, herbs, and a few Japanese eggplants at LaFarm. At the Urban Farm we have been harvesting radishes, kale, lettuce, garlic scapes, and even some summer squash/zucchini. We are excited to get started with more advertising for the Veggie Stand and to see even more progress at the Urban Farm and LaFarm in the coming weeks!
6-16 Urban Farm tied tomatoes
6-17 summer squash harvest
really feel like summer: the temperature outside had risen over the week, with intermittent storms throughout. On Monday at LaFarm, we seeded melons, beans, and winter squash, weeded and staked the tomatoes. Alexa and I learned how to use a stake driver to push the stakes into the ground, they went in easy because of the rain that morning. On Tuesday at the Urban Farm, we planted silver bell squash and eggplant, mulched the tomatoes and eggplants, built trellis for the cucumbers, weeded asparagus and grapes and staked the tomatoes. On Wednesday at the Urban Farm again, we shoveled a lot! We mulched the tomato and pepper beds and spread mushroom soil on the empty beds in the front of the farm. Back at LaFarm on Thursday, Alexa and I harvested peas and strawberries and planted onions, leeks, cabbage and watermelon. To plant the leeks and onions we used a dippler, which is something I had never seen before. It made making holes for the onion bulbs very easy. On Friday, Alexa and I met with Nancy Walters from the Easton Hunger Coalition to discuss a partnership between them and VIC. 
ys Easton has changed over the last decade, learning about the impact WWNP has had in the community. I chatted with another officer about farming and his experience with backyard gardening. I ate dinner with some faces that were new to me, and shared desserts with Sophia, Lynn, and Lexy, who were all present that evening, helping to organize the event and reveling in the success of the event. It was a pleasure getting to join everyone, and I want to express my sincerest gratitude to WWNP for organizing the event and bringing so many wonderful people together with good music and some awesome food!
Last Thursday night, we had our first distribution at the South 10th and Pine Street community garden! It was great to finally be able to share our vegetables with the West Ward Neighborhood. At the beginning of the week, Andrew, Alexa and I were convinced that all we would have at the stand would be zucchini and summer squash since we already had over fifty pounds from the Urban Farm, but Thursday morning we realized there were plenty of other vegetables ready to be harvested! At the stand we had swiss chard, beets, kohlrabi, yellow onions, green onions, sugar snap peas, snow peas and shell peas, radishes, kale, and squash from the Urban Farm, collard greens and purslane from Yvonne’s garden on Walnut Street, and beans and green onions from our own garden at Lafarm. In total, we had over 285 pounds of produce!
Thursday even though it rained the entire time we were there. We recognized a few faces from attending the Kellyn Foundation’s cooking demonstrations at Summer nights where we handed out flyers about the stand. Everyone was thrilled to receive so many of the vegetables and most were even willing to try new things! Not many people had heard of kohlrabi before, but when we told them we had a recipe that incorporated it, they wanted to try it. I enjoyed handing out the vegetables and being able to tell each person a little bit about what they were getting. It was wonderful to see how much people appreciated getting the vegetables and seemed to me like they really valued the food that they were receiving. I’m hoping that we can learn from this distribution and make some improvements for next week. I’m interested to see if many people come back again, and if we have new faces. Also, I’m curious to see if more people come if it doesn’t rain and if they hang around the garden or still leave right after getting their veggies. Looking forward to next Thursday night!!
