Nothing is as Sure as Change
Dear Friends,
One thing that any gardener or farmer learns is that nothing is as sure as change. Moving from winter to spring and summer we can all imagine changes in temperature and landscape. When we are growing trees and plants for food, we notice the intensity of the sun or cloud cover each day, the small and wide variances in temperature, rain or no rain, soil quality, beneficial critters and harmful ones. All of these bring about changes that can often be seen from one day – or even one hour – to the next.
Volunteer In the Gardens peach trees for transplanting to new In the Gardens sites.
Change is upon us at In the Gardens in these ways and more this season. We are opening up our first satellite in the area of Durham, North Carolina. We will still be maintaining a local presence here in Illinois, but our main site will be relocating as I move to the Durham area. As much as I have loved living these eight years in Chicagoland, my daughter’s move to North Carolina has prompted me to follow suit.
In the Gardens berry plants in another Chicagoland In the Gardens site.
As we have been preparing for the move, we invited volunteers, friends and neighbors to pay bits of our garden forward by bringing excess plants to their own and community gardens. Volunteer raspberry, blackberry and strawberry plants, baby peach trees that popped out of pits left by the squirrels (I always wonder why they take one bite and then leave the rest as if offering a gift), sprouting leeks, oregano, Egyptian walking onions, chamomile, sage, thyme, horseradish, arugula and more were brought to new homes and gardens.
In the Gardens equipment for donation to other community gardens that are beautifying our neighborhoods and providing fresh food to diminish hunger.
Some of our equipment will be donated to community gardens. Fencing, trellises, planters, planting medium, and stakes of all sizes are among the items that In the Gardens will donate to other community gardens that are beautifying our neighborhoods and providing fresh food to diminish hunger. While we have some interest in these items, if you have a garden that you’d like to help supply, please let us know.
We will be adjusting to new changes in addition to location. The climate in North Carolina is very different than that of Chicago. We will have a much longer growing season, and a more humid climate. We may be able to grow and harvest for nine or more months each year without the help of a high tunnel or other coverage. At the same time, some plants and varieties that we have come to love won’t do well in the southern climate, while we will be exploring and learning about plants that are native to and thrive in its moist heat.
Much is Staying the Same
Selecting and preparing plants for moving to North Carolina.
In the Gardens will still have the same website and social media sites, as well as the same contact information, so you will still be able to reach us with ease. We will continue to keep you posted as to our growing and unfolding – although we ask you to bear with us with less frequent communications as we go through our initial growing pains – and will still welcome your input, support and volunteer time. Please let us know if your path takes you our way.
May you have a blessed season of growing healthy and beautiful foods, and may we all work and play together to ensure that all people have enough good, fresh food to eat.
Blessings,
Rabbi Robin Damsky