Updates since last time
Izetta Chambers
It's been a while since we had a meeting - perhaps after the holiday
season, would you all like to get together? I would like to perhaps
try to have our meetings at the Senior Center, if we can coordinate
with Ida, who runs the Sr. Center. They have a great sun room, and it
would be refreshing and inspiring to be around plants, especially
given our cold temperatures.
I know that it seems like the planting season is far away, but I am
going to start my tomatoes in January. I am going to try Rae Belle's
method of timing the planting of seeds with the new moon. There is a
student in Chignik that is looking to investigate that as a science
project. We are hoping that they decide to present their findings at
the Western Alaska Interdisciplinary Science Conference (WAISC), being
held in Dillingham at the end of March.
Updates since last time:
1. The Dillingham Schoolyard Garden project was funded for a $1,000
grant from the Division of Agriculture. I've been working with
administration and staff on where to locate the garden beds. The site
selected is the south-facing area of the elementary school, where we
have installed four raised beds - each 4'x12'. The grant paid for 9
bags of Pro-Mix. Unfortunately, somebody has taken 4 of the 9 bags,
leaving only enough Pro-Mix for one raised bed :( If any of you know
of where we can get some decent soil to fill the rest of the raised
beds, I'm certainly open to any ideas. Jim Baumgartner has offered to
let us have some of the peat moss that he is working with over at
Bristol Alliance, and Dillingham Construction is willing to haul it
for us. However, there is some debris in the soil, and will probably
need to be screened.
2. Several UAF staff and faculty have been working with the elementary
school to coordinate and offer an after-school science club. We have
been meeting for an hour every Wednesday and are hoping to introduce
gardening to the kids after the new year. Any adult volunteer help is
greatly appreciated.
3. I recently purchased a grow light and my seeds for the upcoming
year. I'm going to try artichokes, which require some management, as
they need to have at least 240 hours of below 40 degree temperatures
in order for them to flower. I love artichokes and so am pretty
motivated to bring them into the mix.
4. Our multi-family gardening effort in Dillingham paid off this year
- it was our best harvest yet - several hundred pounds of potatoes,
and 12 heads of cabbage (that we purchased as starts from Rae Belle).
The cabbage went into a crock to make about 3 gallons of homemade
sauerkraut. It took about 6 weeks of fermentation, but it is
absolutely delicious!
5. Deb Jones, the state director of 4-H in Alaska recently visited
Dillingham. They are very interested in bring 4-H clubs to this
region. There may be some funds available for a part-time 4-H
coordinator for Bristol Bay.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! We are going to be cooking up
our harvested potatoes, and making a dish with our sauerkraut, in
addition to our Full Circle Farm additions.
After the holiday season, I would like to try to get some form of
governance going with the Dillingham Gardening Club, and possibly
consider some fundraising options. When I was a member of the
Horticulture Club in college, we got together every week and
propagated plants, that were eventually sold in our plant sales. This
generated enough money in the club to purchase supplies, have guest
speakers, and rent a van to go on field trips. It was a great
opportunity to get together with other folks interested in gardening.
We also had a greenhouse on campus, which was an amazing meeting and
work space. I think that the most successful community gardens are
those that have individualized plots that are paid for by the
participants. The membership fee is used to purchase seed, supplies,
etc.
Looking forward to hearing other members' gardening adventures.
-Izetta