Growing food for a hunger-free community
After our successful Fresh Food on the Table Banquet, we’ve been out in the garden bringing in bountiful harvests of fresh food to the Food Bank. Stay tuned for photos and updates. Our thanks to all the volunteers, apprentices and donors who make this all possible!
It’s all ages in the garden getting the overwintered spinach pulled out and ready to plant new starts. Started with one bed, did two. Tired, but proud of a job well done!
The winter cover crops we turned over in February are totally composted in, and we’re moving into major planting mode of the starts we’ve been growing in the greenhouse.
This spring has been cold, as usual, but the plants love being protected under the cloches.
We’re having a good harvest from overwintering chard and kale, and February-planted lettuce and kale from the hoophouse. Argentata chard has been a real winner for us.
The apprentices for the Community Gardening Leadership Training are all here!
A big welcome to Camille Green (Good Cheer Garden Apprentice), Casey Jackson (School Garden Apprentice) and Alexa MacAulay (Whidbey Institute Westgarden apprentice)!
Stay tuned for news of all they will be doing and learning!
Providing fresh produce to the Food Bank YEAR ROUND!
Supporting local farmers, and educating youth!
Reserve your tickets now! freshfoodonthetable.brownpapertickets.com
Sunday, April 28th
Banquet Fundraiser and Square Dance
Whidbey Institute, Thomas Berry Hall
5 pm: Appetizers, with Silent Auction and Veggie Photo ops
6 pm: Banquet from the Good Cheer chefs
6:45 pm: Program and Live Auction with Jim Freeman
Square Dance follows with the Mudhen Callers
Thanks to last year’s fundraising, Good Cheer provided fresh food YEAR ROUND at the Food Bank! We are putting together another evening of great hilarity and fun to raise the money we need to purchase locally grown food throughout the winter from local farmers, and to fund educational programs for youth in the community and school gardens that are growing produce for Good Cheer.
Meet the youth and farmers who are growing for the Food Bank, and hear about all the ways Good Cheer is partnering with our community, schools and local non-profits to provide locally grown food year-round to the Food Bank!
Tickets available at freshfoodonthetable.brownpapertickets.com
There is no cost to attend the banquet, but please give as generously as you can, or bring a friend who can! Jim Freeman will be auctioning a garden variety of fun and useful items. Get the laughing muscles in your cheeks ready!
Fresh Food on the Table is a program of the Good Cheer Food Bank, in partnership with Whidbey Institute and the South Whidbey School District, in collaboration with the South Whidbey Commons, Deep Harvest Farm, Greenbank Farm, and Skyroot Farm.
Your generous donation helps Good Cheer to:
Purchase locally grown food throughout the winter, from Deep Harvest Farm and other local farmers.
Fund educational programs for youth in community and school gardens that are growing produce for Good Cheer.
Fund cooking, nutrition and gardening education at Good Cheer, as well as helping Good Cheer put the harvest up for the winter.
To support Fresh Food on the Table, you can also donate HERE
Good Cheer Food Bank Apprenticeship
The Good Cheer Food Bank seeks an individual with a strong interest in Food Bank operations combined with a passion for cooking, food preservation, teaching and gardening. The Food Bank apprentice will learn how the Good Cheer points system works, and move into a leadership role in managing the distribution, processing and preservation of fresh food in the Food Bank. In addition, they will provide nutrition and cooking classes for Food Bank clients, and school-age youth. The apprentice will also participate in gardening, harvesting and educational activities of the Community Gardening Leadership Training.
The Good Cheer Garden, and the “Fresh Food on the Table” program, together with contributions from gleaning and local farmers, provide over 10,000 lbs of fresh local produce annually to the Good Cheer Food Bank.
The apprenticeship runs from April through Oct. 31, 2013.
Stipend and housing provided. Click Food Bank Apprenticeship 2013 for further information.
A big welcome to Camille Green, the 2013 Good Cheer Garden apprentice!
For as long I can remember, I’ve loved being outside and playing in the dirt. Now, what once got me in trouble on the playground has become my life. As I’ve grown older my interests in social justice, environmental issues, and international relations have allowed me to combine my childhood love of soil and plants with a blossoming academic and philosophical belief that growing good food is essential to fostering healthy communities, and one of the few simple ways of being a positive addition to this world.
From Oregon to Cameroon, I’ve attempted to experience food by growing it, processing it, preparing it, and eating it, and seeing what that means for each environment and community. I have a degree in International Studies from the University of Oregon, and have just moved back to the Pacific Northwest after a year and half working with different environmental and garden projects in Butte, Montana. While I desperately miss the Rockies, I am really happy to be back amongst tall trees, mild winters, stinging nettles, and abundant moisture. I am so excited to be a part of the garden gang, and really thrilled to be learning from all the intelligent and motivated people working on these projects!
~~~ Camille
The overwintering chard and kale is coming on strong with terrific spring growth.
We love our hoophouse, where we just started harvesting the lettuce we planted mid-February. Great to get early salad greens in the Food Bank. Now we’ve also planted lettuce, peas, chard and kale out in the field.
Brrrr! But it’s still cold, though, so we’re protecting our little starts with floating row cover!
In the greenhouse we’re growing lots of starts not only for the garden, but to distribute to Food Bank clients.
Lots of bed prep, and great satisfaction when the starts are planted!
A big thank you to all the Whitman College students who volunteered during their spring break!
Saturday, April 6th, from 11 am – 1 pm, enjoy a picnic at Good Cheer and bring your garden questions! Cary Peterson, Good Cheer Garden Coordinator, will be available to answer questions, and demonstrate the use of floating row covers, and other garden tricks of the trade. We’ll be having salad from our hoophouse!
For the Top Tips and info sheets for March, click HERE.
For the Top Tips and info sheets for April, click HERE.
There are other opportunities to learn while volunteering at the weekly work parties at Good Cheer Garden, and the Whidbey Institute. Click HERE for more info!
A big thank you to Annie Jesperson and Nathaniel Talbot, of Deep Harvest Farm! They delivered 85 pounds of kale, collards, beets and carrots every week from mid-October through early March as part of the Fresh Food on the Table program, helping the Food Bank provide fresh produce year round. Beyond their contract with Good Cheer, Deep Harvest was generous during the Christmas holidays and then, in March when their season was over, we gleaned over 200 lbs of kale and collards from their field. Our great appreciation!
The South Whidbey Academy Garden is taking shape! The grassy slope is being turned into an outdoor classroom for science and sustainability curriculum, and the produce grown will go to Good Cheer Food Bank! The terraces will be ready to plant soon, thanks to the hard work of students in Michele Sakaguchi’s class.
A big thank you to Chris Korrow and his tractor with its Italian spading attachment,
that beautifully tilled the soil. Casey Jackson, School Garden Apprentiice, confirmed that the tilling was deep and successful!
