St Francis Sustainable Garden Harvests: 2015 and 2016

Many thanks to our volunteer gardeners over the last 2 years!

Despite a very dry summer 2016 and the bunnies consistently eating the pole bean seedlings, we had a decent production year and good variety.  Deliveries to Foundations Preschool were supplemented by harvests from Cobblestone Farms gardens, too which are not included in the following results and comparisons from 2015 and 2016.

Erich

Fwd: St Francis Sustainable Garden: Potato Dig Harvest

P.S.  We harvested about 30 lbs of potatoes in total.

Fwd: St Francis Sustainable Garden: Potato Dig Harvest

Dear All,

Thank you for maintaining the St Francis gardens so well this summer.  Rose, Erich and Ann Marie harvested red and white potatoes on Friday and delivered 2 pound bags to Foundations Preschool on Friday with all the remaining beets (better harvest this year) and 3 eggplants (best harvest ever).

We will harvest remaining swiss chard, cucumbers and kale on Monday, and look forward to putting the beds to rest with your help this Saturday, Oct 15 at 10:00am.

Here are photos from yesterday.

Kind regards,

Erich Jensen with Rose Sherry

Garden Coordinators

St Francis Gardens: Oct 15 Clean Up Date

Dear All,

Thank you for your help this year.  Many areas have been cleared and spruced up, as we prepare for new plantings next year.  Not sure how much needs fall cleanup, but I have scheduled a date, Saturday Oct 15 from 10 - 11:30 am . I hope you can join us (the Sustainable Garden crew will also be around, so perhaps we can make some introductions).

Sign Up link: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050f4baeaf29ab9-garden

I bought 100 daffodil bulbs, in particular, for the Mary Garden and some small areas at the front of the church.

Regards,

Erich Jensen

P.S.  If you cannot make it, no problem.  Hopefully we will see you in the Spring, and please recruit family, friends and fellow parishioners.

P.P.S.  Check out this video on a local neighbor and planting native plants.  Please consider native plants for your own gardens when replacing a dead plant, clearing a new bed, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAGQ7sppeL4

https://vimeo.com/183106574

Sustainable Garden: Today's Harvest

We picked beets, kale and cherry tomatoes. 

Sustainable Garden Dates: Potato Dig and Garden Cleanup

Hi Everyone,

Because of extensive rain this week and garden harvest winding down, the following new dates are proposed:

• POTATO DIG Friday Oct 7, either 10 - 11 am OR 4 - 5 pm (PLEASE INDICATE IF ONE OR ANOTHER OR BOTH OR NEITHER WORKS)
• FALL CLEAN UP (includes plant removal, pole bean and rain barrel dismantle, etc) Saturday Oct 15 10 am 

Please RSVP to me and/or Rose or use Sign Up Genius:  http://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050f4baeaf29ab9-garden1 

Please consider inviting a friend, too.

Thank you,

Erich Jensen

Today's harvest

Along with cucumbers, some tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers and eggplants I harvested the onions and carrots. One of the biggest carrots was 6 oz.! I also watered the peppers and eggplants

Thank you to Sustainable Garden Donors

We have just sent out personal thank you cards to the following vendors for their continued support for the St Francis of Assisi Sustainable Garden.  Please help us recognize them by shopping at these locations.

(1) Downtown Home and Garden for a second Earth Box and funds for its materials
(2) Turner's Nursery for 4 flats of vegetables and herbs
(3) Meijer's on Ann Arbor-Saline Road for a $100 gift card to be used garden supplies

Regards,
Erich Jensen

St Francis Botanical Gardens: Gardening and Grounds Grooming Group (4G Network) Ministry

Dear All,

This is an information share for all garden ministries and volunteers at St Francis and activities of the last month.  Check out the following link: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050f4baeaf29ab9-garden.  (Next activity date: June 4) Gardens include, but are not limited to, Memorial Garden, Mary Garden, Peace Garden and Rectory and Parish Office gardens.

Karen and Matt Cole, Susan Bass, Terry MacLean, Nadine Brown, Jane Antosiak, Mark Roh, Erich and Ann Marie Jensen and Eileen Coogan have been starting improvements to the various gardens during April and May under encouragement and support of Scott Wright, Dave Barera and Fathers James and Terry.

Here is a list of activities (with selected photos) accomplished so far:

Saturday April 23

Karen and Matt Cole, Erich and Ann Marie Jensen, and Eileen Coogan cleaned up the Peace Garden (i.e., 16 paper bags of compost).  Moments later a St Francis family who were celebrating their son's communion entered and the garden for a photo-op.

Sunday May 1

Karen and Matt Cole, Erich and Ann Marie Jensen and Mark Roh cleared the Bell Tower area and mulched for a clean look for future plantings.  Additional areas for cleanup, pruning and mulching were initiated, including, but not limited, to flower beds at the base of the brick planters on the front steps, flagstone edged bed under trees along sidewalk, and spirea bush pruning and mulching on hillside alongside the first set of front steps to the church.

Weekend of May 6 to May 8 and more

Matt and Karen Cole mulch top left of first set of front steps to the church.  Nadine Brown mulches half of the Memorial Garden.  Erich and Ann Marie Jensen initiate planting of the west brick planter with zinnias. Susan Bass and Jane Antosiak begin Mary Garden cleanup.  Terry MacLean trims and starts removal of English Ivy at the rectory.  Annual seed and plant sale on Mother's Day includes native plants and more and accounts for half of the $200 sales revenue.

Future Dates: June 4 (Rain Date: June 11) we look forward to partnering with the Knights of Columbus and Scout families and perhaps, confirmation candidates seeking service hours to mulch, prune, trim, weed, clear and clean up more areas of the St Francis property, in particular, garden areas.

Thank you to everyone so far, and please invite fellow parishioners and friends/family outside of St Francis to join us in our beautification of our Pope's namesake church, here in Ann Arbor. Again, sign-up at: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050f4baeaf29ab9-garden 

God bless you,

Erich Jensen

734.771.8511

St Francis Sustainable Vegetable Garden: Plant and Seed Sale May 8 (Mother's Day)

Hello Garden Volunteers,

Many thanks to Erich and Ann Marie Jensen, Rose Sherry, Katy Derezinski, and Michelle, Brooke and Gaby Engelhardt for set up, sales, and shut down at this successful Seed and Plant Sale on Sunday, May 8 (Mother's Day) 8:30 and 10:30 Masses (see photos below).   Extra unsold plants are making their way into the St Francis gardens.

This beautiful sunny and cool morning resulted in the following sales and donations:

• Seed Packets : (selling for  $.50 - 1)   16 sold   for $11
• 4 pack Veggies and Herbs :  (selling for $2)                                   44 sold   for $88
• Native Plants (and thyme) plus a bag of seed balls  ($3)   32 sold for $96
• Donations       $5.51 

Grand Total: $200.51

We still need volunteers for this Thursday's final planting, weeding and watering for the summer (weekly), and produce deliveries to Foundations Preschool (weekly).  The "more the merrier volunteers" means activities are spread across many and only an hour or so of commitment here and there.  Thank you very much for considering even if you can occasionally back up individuals when vacations occur.

Prayerful regards,

Erich Jensen

734.771.8511

Fwd: St Francis Sustainable Garden: Parts 3 and 4 Seed and Plant Sale May 8, 10 am - 12pm AND Planting May 19 3:15 - 5:00 pm

Dear All,

We still need help with:

Seed and plant sale (May 8)

Final planting of crops (May 19) 

Watering, weeding, harvesting and delivering (summer 2016) 

by signing up on:  http://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050f4baeaf29ab9-garden1 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We thank the Sherry Family, Erich and Ann Marie Jensen, Katy Derezinski, Julie Lavender, and John Schommer for the following garden activities on the beautiful and cool Saturday April 23:

• Amended Matthew, Mark, and Paul beds with top soil
• Removed dead plant matter and leaves from Peter, Paul and Francis beds including, but not limited to deadheading daffodils, pruning red and black raspberry canes, removing browned flower heads from Autumn Joy sedum
• Set up the bean pole structure in Paul bed
• Planted onion and potato seed/sets
• Weeded and cleared dead debris from native plant beds
• Set up 2 rain barrels 

On the same day another team of St Francis gardeners cleaned up the Peace Garden in front of the school and filled nearly 15 bags of winter and fall garden debris:

You gotta love the timing and what we do in the gardens!

The cleanup in the Peace Garden went really well this morning.  ... ... the team of 6 cleaning and planting the sustainable vegetable garden ... ... .  You all did a great job.   This lovely family with photographer (friend and/or professional) and their son who made his communion made a bee line to the Peace Garden for a photo op.  What timing and the whole area was so neat and tidy just after we finished!

I am so excited to get the gardens upgraded, improved, cleaned up, planted, etc, especially when you see parishioners using them like today.

See photos below.

Next week some mulching begins.

Thank you and God bless,

Erich

P.S.  I am trying to recruit the sustainable garden volunteers to consider the wider broader gardening ministry, too.

P.P.S. Eventually I want to have a conversation with the teacher who has the stones piled by the school kids to understand purpose.  We can share the garden but the space needs to be respected, too, and not cluttered.

P.P.S.  I would love to know about the Mary statue  and how it got placed in the Peace Garden.

St Francis Sustainable Garden: Part 2 Saturday April 16, 10 am (i.e., 60-90 minutes) Cleanup

Please join us (and RSVP to Erich) for Saturday April 16 @ 10 am to continue spring cleaning and planting by:

• Amending Matthew, Mark, and Paul beds with top soil
• Removing dead plant matter and leaves from Peter, Paul and Francis beds including, but not limited to deadheading daffodils, pruning red and black raspberry canes, removing browned flower heads from Autumn Joy sedum
• Setting up the bean pole structure in Paul bed
• Planting onion and potato seed/sets
• Weeding native plant beds
• Setting up 2 rain barrels 
• Edging the perimeter of the 4 gospels garden

We made a lot of progress on April 1 with Erich and Ann Marie Jensen, John, Patrick and Rose Sherry, Julie White, and Susan Bass.  Many thanks to them for the following garden activities on the cool gray, but not rainy Good Friday morning:

Repaired the Luke Bed the north edge wood frame.

Amended Luke and John beds each with 4 bags top soil

Planted peas and spinach seeds in Luke and John bed

Set-up poles/string frames for peas 

Removed/composted leaves caught in corners and/or perimeter of the entire white picket fence area

Here are photos of the April 1st event

Re: St Francis Sustainable Garden: Friday April 1, 10 am (i.e., 60-90 minutes)

You my use the sign-up at:  http://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050f4baeaf29ab9-garden1

Dear All,

Thank you for your positive responses (or still waiting) to joining the Garden ministry this year.

Our first event is scheduled for next Friday, April 1 (I guess for FOOLish gardeners, if it REMAINS cold, but the peas and spinach love it) at 10 am and meet at the main sustainable garden white picket fence area.

We hope to accomplish the following:

1. Repair selected corners of the beds where wood framing is pulling away from corner metal plates.
2. Amend soil with bags of top soil
3. Plant peas and spinach seeds in Matthew and Mark beds
4. Set-up poles/string frames for peas 
5. Remove/compost leaves caught in corners and/or perimeter the white picket fence area

Rose and I will meet several of you were interested in planting.  For those who indicated interest in planting in a response to the earlier email (see below), please let us know, if you CANNOT come.  But, ALL others (and hot chocolate) are welcome! and invite a friend, too.

Regards,

Erich

734.771.8511

On Mar 16, 2016, at 8:55 PM, Erich Jensen <erichjensen@msn.com> wrote:

Hello (Hibernating) Bear and (Easter) Bunny Volunteers,

Wake up and get ready for Spring, as Rose and I would like to invite you back into the gardens.  As we prepare during Lent and see the robins and daffodils now appear, we are reaching out to you to determine your interest and participation level for this year.  Thank you for all your help in the past.  

Please respond to this email with a "yes" or "maybe (I am considering)" or "I have moved on to a new adventure." by March 22 (Tuesday).  Please consider forwarding this invitation to a friend, too.

If you say "yes," we can already offer the following initial garden opportunities for you, including, but not limited to:

• Week of March 28: Planting of selected cool weather crops/seeds (e.g., spinach, peas)
• April 16 (Saturday) [rain date: April 23 (Saturday)]: Garden cleanup and preparation (e.g., leaf and other debris removal, bed weeding and tilling, etc)
• May 8 (Sunday) [8:30 and 10:30 masses) Seed and Plant Sale
• End of May (dates to be determined): Plant vegetables and herbs

Let us know what you are interested in at this time.

Thank you and God bless you,

Erich Jensen

734.771.8511

Rose Sherry

734.657.0197

P.S. Watering, weeding and harvesting opportunities are also available throughout the summer.