Merry Christmas from the Garden

As hard as it is to believe that the year is coming to a close - it feels like just yesterday we were feverishly preparing our growing beds for 2022 - it is even harder to believe that in a few weeks we will begin preparing for our FOURTH summer growing season.

As the year winds down, we will harvest our last major crop of the year, collards, and deliver it to Angels & Sparrows on Monday. Collards are a traditional holiday food in the South, and we are happy to provide A&S with enough to provide a hearty side dish for 150+ meals!

Once the collards are gone, the garden will be empty, save for some lettuce and carrots we are attempting to overwinter in one of the new table beds. We will take a few weeks "off" and then begin preparing for the 2023 season in mid-Febuary. The six-week period between mid-March and the end of April is arguably the busiest and certainly the most intense of the gardening calendar, and we hope some of you will be able to volunteer a few hours to help us prep and plant.

The addition of the table beds, along with one new deep compost bed, will raise our total area under cultivation to more than 1,500 square feet! Crop-wise, we will be planting a mix very similar to 2022, although we will plant four full 30' rows of corn and transition from bush to pole beans.

It may simply be the magic of this season, with its deep, mysterious darkness pierced by the cozy lights from homestead hearths and the twinkling of holiday decorations in our towns, but there is a sense of renewal and hope that reminds me just how special our New Beginnings family is.

Merry Christmas from the garden! See y'all in 2023.

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