Greetings from Cincinnati! With the frost coming early this year, we have already been busy clearing and replanting our garden beds with cool-weather vegetable crops and dragging season extension materials from the shed. Winter is right around the corner!
As we finish up another season, I’m happy to share that it has been one of the best years to-date for The Over-the-Rhine People’s Garden. In 2022 we grew, enjoyed, and shared 604 pounds of food and led 19 free garden-related classes in the garden! The garden is managed by a group of experienced gardeners who have gotten into a groove and established a solid rotation—resulting in a fine-tuned creation. I can’t begin to count the number of people who have commented on how beautiful the garden is—not only from an atheistic perspective, but from an emotional one. It’s been said that it radiates a sense of peace and tranquility. We’re very proud of how this year has gone and we’re looking forward to an even better next year.
Wesley Chapel Mission Center continues to shine as a wonderful community parter for the garden. We created a Garden Club, years ago, with interested students who attend their after-school program and it continues to this day. Participants walk to the garden twice a month, all year round, to learn about growing food, earning money and flower farming. This week the youth and I had a wonderful time getting the garden holiday ready by setting up a real Christmas tree in the garden. We were able to have a tree this year thanks to a generous donation by Nana and Pap’s Christmas Tree Farm. We decorated it with beautiful wildlife-friendly ornaments and the tree is on display at the edge of the garden where everyone in the neighborhood will enjoy it too!
As I end this blog for the 2022 season I am delighted that my entry fell on the week of Giving Tuesday—a global generosity movement highlighting how powerful people can be in uplifting their community. All season long, I have witnessed how this community garden both gives and receives genuine acts of kindness. Please comment below and let us know what you are doing to promote random acts of kindness in your garden.
I truly believe Audrey Hepburn said it best; “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” See you next year! I will be back writing blogs in early 2023.
In the meantime, I am wishing you a wonderful holiday and a happy new year!
Peace, Love, Happiness & Flowers,
Christina