This Says It All!

Look at Cassie's satisfaction and appreciation from picking this fresh tomato!

This brings to mind a true love song, the tender ballad below.

Homegrown Tomatoes by Guy Clark

Chorus:

Homegrown tomatoes, homegrown tomatoes

What'd life be without homegrown tomatoes

Only two things that money can't buy

That's true love and homegrown tomatoes

1. Well, there ain't nothin' in the world that I like better

Than bacon, lettuce and home grown tomatoes

Up in the morning and out in the garden

Pick you a ripe one. Hey, don't get a hard 'un.

Plant 'em in the spring, eat 'em ion the summer.

All winter without 'em's a culinary bummer.

I forget all about the sweatin' and the diggin'

Every time I go out and pick me a big'un.

CHORUS

2. You can go out and eat 'em, that's for sure,

There's nothin' a home grown tomato won't cure.

Put 'em in a salad, put 'em in a stew.

You can make your own tomato juice.

You can eat 'em with eggs, you can eat 'em with gravy.

Eat with 'em with bean, pinto or navy.

Put 'em on the side, put 'em in the middle.

Put a homegrown tomato on a hot cake griddle.

CHORUS

3. If I could change this life I lead,

I'd be Johnny Tomato Seed.

'Cause I know what this country needs,

It's homegrown tomatoes in every yard, you see.

When I die, don't bury me

In a box in a cemetery.

Out in the garden would be much better,

Where I could be pushin' up those homegrown tomatoes.

CHORUS

Listen to it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nitgmAInI18

A Berry Good Summer!

Thimbleberries: another wild UP treat. More difficult to pick than wild blueberries. Gisele showed college students a local patch; they generously shared some of their pickings with Voices for Youth clients. One college student used his in a peach thimbleberry pie. Blessed!

Results!

We were beginning to wonder. Is anything really growing here besides weeds (and rocks and broken glass)? Week after week of work with very little obvious response -- discouraging. And then -- bam! Results! Ripening tomatoes, beans that miraculously went from blossom to long bean in one week, peppers getting bigger. Sigh of relief... our work has not been in vain. Excitement is in the air as growth becomes apparent! Not unlike the growth of human hearts. Thanks for all those who keep coming patiently and faithfully!

We've Got the Blues

Here in the gorgeous Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan "we got the blues"... wild blueberries. E-ver-y-where!! What a great year for these little gems! Gisele showed college students (and friends) who are part of the Marquette Hunger Garden project a couple of prime picking spots.

We picked wild blueberries and donated some of them to Voices for Youth -- feeding both hungry, grateful teens and the hungry college students who picked the really fresh and healthy fruit.

This experience wasn't just about food for our bellies, but also being fed by the fresh air and gentle light as we literally got "down to earth" with multiple varieties of low bush blueberry plants.

Meaning of Food in Our Lives

Every other week we've been meeting to discuss the book "Simply in Season" at Voices for Youth. The resource is a cookbook that includes reflections, Bible references, factoids, and anecdotes about the meaning and place of food in our lives. It raises our awareness of the people and steps involved in growing, processing, and delivering our food to us. We've discussed hunger -- both undernourishment and overnourishment. We've thought out loud about sustainability and impacts of consuming locally produced foods, as well as consuming seasonal produce. One of our college students regularly shares with us recipes she has tried from the book.

Here, a couple of Voices for Youth participants get into the nitty gritty details of corn syrup cornucopia. Corn syrup in tomato soup? Wha?! We took a look at which foods have corn syrup -- sometimes more than one kind of corn syrup -- and which don't. See more about "Simply in Season", including a downloadable free study guide, at http://www.worldcommunitycookbook.org/

Mystery Hardware

What *are* these?! Gisele stopped by the ReStore and asked if they had anything pea plants could climb up. They had some grocery store racks that hold little bags of snacks. Or maybe they are department store racks that hold socks. Or, or, or... You come and tell us! At our weeding session last Thursday Sara H. and newcomer John adjusted them a bit, stuck them into the ground and gently coaxed pea plants onto the racks. We also thinned beets.

Bloomin' Veggies!

What's growing at the garden? We are! And so are nasturtiums, lettuce, squash and a wide variety of veggies.