Throughout August, the lush Incredible Edible Gardens at the Red Barn Motel and at the Milbridge Commons continued producing an amazing variety of vegetables to feed our community– tomatoes, cucumbers, swiss chard, kale, lettuce, ground cherries, summer squash, herbs of all kinds, and more.
As you can imagine, these vegetables require a lot of nutrients! Our vegetables are only as rich in nutrients as the soil they grow in. Compost from We Compost It! was delivered to the gardens in mid-August. You’ll see a huge pile of rich, dark compost at each garden. We are selling the extra compost for $61.50 per yard. If you are interested, please be in touch with with us at info@whrl.org.
Ed & Jane Flanagan visiting the Milbridge Commons.
We had special visitors to the Ed Flanagan Pollinator Garden at Milbridge Commons — Ed and Jane Flanagan themselves! This garden was named after Mr. Flanagan because while he was the CEO for Wyman’s, he was a powerful advocate for honeybees. He delivered testimony to a Congressional hearing on USDA funding for bee health, where he warned, “No bees, no berries.” Mr. and Mrs. Flanagan have also been loyal WHRL supporters since we opened over 15 years ago.
Talking about educational programming — the second camp of OWLette happened at the end of the month at the Milbridge Commons. This camp taught outdoor, naturalist and gardening skills to girls ages 9 – 11. The girls harvested green beans, learned how to compost with worms, how to identify plants, and more!
On August 28th, Farmer Matt from the IEM Garden at the Red Barn Motel presented “Arrive Early, Stay Late: Season Extension Strategies for Zone 5B,” a workshop that helped 14 participants learn how to maximize the growing season by using tools and techniques such as row covers, humidity domes, grow lights, and more.
Electricity was installed in the greenhouse behind WHRL at the end of the month. We plan on having the greenhouse ready by next spring to start seedlings and for educational workshops.
Thanks go out to our gardeners and the volunteers who have helped keep the gardens happy. Thanks, also, go out to our community members who harvest– you, too, are helping to keep the gardens in shape!