Basil and 'Maters and Cukes... Oh, my!

OK, it's a stretch, but say the title of this post the way the Wizard of Oz cast said, "Lions and tigers and bears... oh my!" A couple of us went to the Marquette Farmers & Artists Market May 29 with a shopping list of plants requested in an earlier team meeting. We bought the following certified naturally grown plants from Rock River Farm and Perennial Gardens (Chatham, MI) since they know what varieties grow well in the UP. Thanks for educating us, Erik Black (and for the discount)!

• 4 tomatoes: Northern Delights (slicer), Striped Roma, Early Girl (small slicer), Cabernet Grape (bite-size)
• 3 squash: Red Kuri (winter squash), Summer Early Crookneck (yellow), Zucchini
• Cucumber (Marketmore)
• Nasturtium (edible flowers)
• Cilantro
• Basil

Buy local!

See about the awesome Marquette Farmers' & Artists' Market at
http://www.downtownmarquette.org/news.php?id=45

and about wonderful Rock River Farms at
http://www.rockriverpg.com/

Seeds

In February 2010 Lutheran Campus Ministry (LCM) of Northern Michigan University (NMU) received good news from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) national office -- their Campus Ministry Division had just been awarded a grant from the Hunger Awareness Education funds. The approved project is called "Seed Money for a Ground Breaking Proposal".

Purpose: To encourage campus ministry sites to develop a new community garden; connect with a local food bank, homeless shelter, and/or community kitchen for distribution of harvested crops; and become aware of local and global hunger issues through conversation with the partners using a study/reflection/action model. Project should be sustainable, show good growing principles, and make us of student leadership and faculty resourcing.

We applied for the grant later that month and in March got word we were awarded a portion of the monies! With the award came these sentiments: We have been very impressed with the excitement and care that you have shown in helping to connect students to a community food agency, and exploring local and global hunger issues. We wish you a plentiful growing season and look forward to your report.

This amazing grant got us started putting together a community garden that will feed a segment of the population that doesn't have enough food.

Upon receiving the grant we posted a project description on NMU's Superior Edge web page. NMU students responded! Then the students met with Marquette's Voices for Youth (VFY) staff. Voices for Youth is a transitional living program for homeless and other teens and is an outreach of Lutheran Social Services' Urban Ministry.

At the first meeting we took soil samples and tested them for pH, phosphorous, nitrogen, and potash so we could find out what supplements to add to the soil before planting.

Get more info about incredible Voices for Youth at

www.lsswis.org/Services/UM/Voices.