Tomatoes, squash, broccoli, eggplant! 

Striking a Pose at the Durham Fair

Despite a fuss over the smell the ruminant barn was a picturesque background for these crazy animals to check out goats, sheep and llamas! And while I could have spent all day watching the beasts of burden pull 1000's of pounds of bricks, The crew spent the most time in the crafts barn and seemed thouroughly impressed by the paintings , dioramas, and knitting of their peers!

Blue Ribbon Bunny

The challenge was to leave the fair with a favorite farm animal..in your head, not under your arm. Almost unanimously was the bunny!

A successful close to our first market season

This past Saturday was our final day of the market. It was beautiful weather, not a rainy day all season. We want to thank all the supports and shoppers who made our market a success. Through 15 markets we saw an average of of 200 shoppers each week buying the freshest tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, greens, garlic, onions, and berries, from farmers all growing within 30 miles of Hartford. At the GROW booth we had the last of our tomatoes for sale including green tomatoes...Here is what to do with them: -Heat to a boil a brine of about 1 cup water to 1/2 cup white vineger and 2 tbs salt (have enough brine to cover tomatoes) -Place tomatoes (about 2 cups worth) in glass jars or corning weara bowl w/lid -Add a few cloves of garlic, chunks of onion, and a a hot pepper, if you like -Add a tsp of dill seed (opitional) -Pour hot brine over tomatoes and other seasoniongs, cover and put in the frinde for a least a week for pickles to sour....Enjoy See you all at the market next season!

The Seed Season

This year we planted over 75 sunflowers in the garden. Aside from feeding the bees and birds we will dry and clean the seeds, eating some and saving some to plant next year.

sunflowers 

Dont let the sweet smile fool ya!

And now Clifford.... The thing that I liked the most about the summer was our first farmers market. I liked it the most because I saw a whole lot of people coming to buy things from our stand and I liked that people were buying things from us. My biggest challenges this summer were trying to be a better friend to the other workers at the program and trying to keep my mouth closed while some one other than me was talking. One of the three things that I learned this summer was how to plant sunflowers where they would grow. The second thing that I learned was how to harvest tomatoes from our garden that are ready. The third thing that I learned this summer is how to be a better friend to the other workers at the program. The funniest thing that happened this summer was Shannon Raider, our boss, trying to cut the grass. She could not turn on the weed whacker.

naomi, with her FRESH friends

One of my favorite memories of the summer is when we went to visit FRESH, a group from New London. We met up with fresh and they showed us their garden. One of the gardens was real little, but the next one they showed us was much bigger than the first one. After we went to Ocean Beach and we went swimming. It was fun ,there was many people there like me, Ya-Ya, Theresa, Clifford, Angel, Clivens, Rickyon ,Donna and Judy ,Shanon,Laura and Fresh and also I met a little friend. The biggest challenge for me this summer was trying to not to get caught up in someone's mess but here on now that is still my challange. The part of work I like this summer was cooking. I like to cook so maybe one day I might even use one of the recipes. The one thing I like about the farmers markets is when you see most of the things you have grown and seeing people go away being happy with what they purchase.

goodbye blogger

Hey, this is your favorite Blogger! Ya-Ya. You guys have to wish me luck because I am a freshman at Sport & Medical Sciences Academy starting September the sixth. Anyways back to GROW... My favorite memory from this summer was my first day, because as you know I came a week late because of an unfortunate death in the family. I arrived an hour early and Shannon was in the garden. She was very surprised to see me because I wasn't sure when I could come back. If you didn't know... I was in Virginia burring my uncle. When the crew showed up Shannon introduced me as Ya Queera. Clifford then asked, “When is the girl who is out of town coming back?" That was very funny to me and Shannon because we knew it was me but apparently it wasn't clear to the crew that I was the person. This is my favorite memory because the crew was eager to meet me while I was gone! My biggest challenge this summer was learning its okay to be wrong sometimes. I am a real control freak and this summer being with a lot of other people every day helped me to understand that I'm not always right and that other peoples' opinion matter. The part of the work this that I personally liked the best this summer was sheet mulching. I like this because it was a new tool that I learned and I became good at it and just about everywhere in the garden you see sheet mulch I helped a lot and I am proud of my self! My favorite part about the farmers market is writing receipts. Like sheet mulching it is another tool I picked up this summer and I am great at it. Farmer Sam came and taught us how to write receipts. Even thought I came to the farmers market on the third market I still have been doing the receipts every Saturday that I'm there. Its' been real, talking to you guys this summer. That's All Folks...3...2...1!!!!! ya-ya

theresa & precious

One of my favorite memories in the garden was when this group call OPP came to our garden. They had made us a sign and they came to put it up in our garden. We also took pictures with them and the best part about it was the pictures. The biggest challenge I had in the garden was when a group came from Boston and another group came from New London. We had to sit down with the people they put us in a group with, we had to read a paper and it asked us to tell our whole name and tell what it meant. This was hard for me because I don’t like my name. To me the funniest thing that happened this summer was when I was painting. The paint got on my face and on my neck and I had to walk home like that and this boy thought I had got hit with a paint ball and I think that was funny. My favorite part of the farmers market is when I get to sit at the information table because when I sit at the information table I’m right next to the music and all you have to do is sell bread and count all the people that came to the market. theresa

The last time I come to the library.

My favorite memory of the summer was when the group went to see the "fresh group" in New London. I had a good time, we ate lunch then we played games. After that we went to see the other garden they have. All together they have two gardens. After that we all went to the beach then we said goodbye and went home. I think the biggest challenge for me this summer was geting up at 8:30 and coming on time everyday. My favorite part about the farmers market is selling the bread.This summer I learned three things. One was to be on time for work, how to grow corn and other crops and the last thing was learning how to be a better famer and have my own garden. Clivens Laurore.

Summer

Rickyon watering our broccoli. One of my best memories this summer was when the crew went to Holcomb and Shannon took us on a ride in the truck. I liked the part when we went for a ride on the truck for a tour and Shannon was going over the big bumps and the truck got stuck, that was funny. The biggest challenge was when we had to sheet mulch with the cardboard. We had to keep taking leaves from the back of the garden, we had to bring them to the spot like 50 times.The best job was picking the tomatoes with the whole crew. I like it because we throw the tomatoes that weren’t good. We threw them to the compost. The funniest thing that happened was at straight talk when people get their anger off their backs. Like the last straight talk when Clifford said some thing and every one burst out laughing. Rickyon smith

A beautiful Day at Roses Berry Farm

Blueberries, blackberries, rasberries OH My! The weather was perfect for our last field trip of the year. With a view of Hartford off in the distance was walked among 30 year old pear trees, drooping apple trees, and picked berries galore! Riding around on the back of the truck past the fields Clivens softly shared, "If I lived out here I would just eat fruit all day, no meat, just fruits."