When I contacted the Family Advocate she told me she really didn’t know the size the raised beds were…that they were maybe 2×3 or 4×6 and she shared she really didn’t know anything about gardening.  Our team brought some supplies with us, extra gardening gloves, compost and some veggie starts.

We arrived at Trinity Place and discovered that not only were the beds terribly overgrown with weeds and grass but that the small bed was actually 10×10 and the large bed 10×20.  We went right to work on the large bed turning the soil with shovels and sifting through it to pick the weeds and grass out.   Pretty soon, several of the kids came out to see what was going on and they started helping pull the weeds.  Soon after that about 6 of the moms joined in and more kids jumped in to help the ‘ladies with the orange shirts.”

While part of the crew continued to work on the large bed another group began to work compost into the soil of the smaller bed.  The “orange shirt ladies” helped teach the residents and kids how to plant tomatoes, zucchini starts and cucumber seeds.  Finally the large bed was free of weeds and grass so six bags of compost were mixed into the soil.  As the planting commenced, the kids got more and more excited.  They planted strawberry plants, bush beans, radishes, carrots, spinach and beets.  The highlight of the day was the kids getting to plant their own pea patch with each child’s name posted next to the peas they had planted.