El fin

That means the end! Or is it? Anyway, the internet's slow, so hopefully this post will actually go through! It's been a grueling last month. Extremely busy. Seriously, you guys should see our calendar! There was always something to do, whether it was plan a barbeque, do one last veggie heroes skit for our adoring fans (if you missed it, I'm extremely sorry) doing our food life maps, making good-bye cds, it's non stop! But I'll try to bring you up to speed as to what we've been up to, and hopefully find some good pictures to prove it.

So, first off, the demo garden. It's been bloody well...bloomin! My eggplant and watermelon came back! I was so happy. They started flowering! I transplanted my cucumber into the greenhouse because it wasn't happy outside. In place of it, I planted peas which have taken off slowly, but surely. And my beets or radishes or whatever the heck I planted (I really should have labelled them) are quite big. And my carrot!!! Well....they're bigger then Whitneys, haha. And the mystery pot is...well...a mystery. I should have put more thought into that as well. It's grown up with like 6 different plants. But because there's variety, I can't tell what's a weed or not. But they're big! The potatoe patch has sprouted not only a lot of weeds, but potatoe plant-look alike weeds. Go figure. The zucchini and pumpkins are growing great as well. The grass is so thick though, it's hard to find them amongst the grass. But the pumpkins are there! They're about dodgeball sized. And most of our tomatoes are starting to turn red. That means we gotta pick em soon because lots of them get bugs quickly after that. The sad thing, BECAUSE we've been so busy, we haven't been able to go to the site and weed, or even mow the grass! So at least no one can say we're lazy! We're just busy in other departments.

I'd like to mention a blurb about manhunt as well. We've been hosting Recess, a nightly activity on Thursday nights to which we play a game; so far, it's been manhunt and sardines. It's a great energy game. We've had only a few dedicated people come every week which is a bit disheartening. There ARE kids out there, bored, with nothing to do. Almost every mention of manhunt makes kids smile in memory of past games they've played. So the question is, why aren't they coming? Do NOT be discouraged by the age range. Those little 12, 13 year olds can book it, sometimes faster then me! Sneaky buggers too! So, if you are a parent reading this, push your kids to at least check out our games every Thursday at 7pm. I implore, that the more, the better. If you're a bored teenager, online all the time, get out and give it a try! You don't even have to be a fast runner. It's more strategy then speed. Just a small hint of many; you can "herd" people with even walkers, pushing the chased towards the sprinters. See? Not so hard. It's uber fun!

I also feel the need to talk about a green leaders conference I went to over the past weekend. I was sad to miss Whitney's arts showcase that she put so much effort into ( I hope you enjoyed my treats; I heard the muffins weren't that great though) :( At the conference held in Prince Rupert, I was the representative for Hazelton; nay, all the communities past Terrace it seemed! But I hardly felt singled out. There was a great age range from 14-21, including older leaders and supervisors for youth groups for Terrace, Prince Rupert, and even the Queen Charlottes! I was very impressed at everyones maturity and enthusiasm to the issues brought up, one being the importance of the Sacred Headwaters water shed and how it affects EVERYONE on the community. Please, even if you hardly consider yourself an activist, please visit their website and send an email or something. http://www.sacredheadwaters.com/ We had a few guest speakers as well, including Jeff Gibbs and Nathan Cullen who explored a community mapping exercise with us, showing how we were all connected. He was a great speaker who really put things in perspective. I really felt comfortable there. It was inspiring to see how everyone was just themselves, during and after the conference, going to the carnival, chilling in someones backyard. It was kind of symbollic as to how we don't have to be great politicians and green peace people to make a difference. Regular people, people you go swimming with or hang out with; THOSE are the people who make a difference. And as I told a reporter at the conference, "great problems call for great solutions, and great solutions come from great people" It's time for those great people to come together.

So, as my hands are getting tired from typing so much (I can go all night long, but I have experience with long letters. People have a short attention span) I will leave it with a few pictures that might say more than I could, without blushing or laughing hysterically. The three month endeavor seemed like a lot longer, and was extremely rewarding. I've learned a lot, from gardening to food issues to what games kids like. Apparently, playing bus stop is the way to go with the youngin's. So now I have a month off to do odd jobs, train on my bike, and hang out with my friends before I jet off to Canada World Youth and share the wealth of knowledge I've gained. Amazing Apple, AWAY!!!!

So we're finally getting in on this website blog. Which is good. This is the technological era. It's so much easier then say, sending telegram to everyone in Hazelton about how our garden is doing. But enough of that. You're here to read about how my vegetables are doing!

Well, most of them ARE doing good in fact. However, as I'm not an avid gardner (meaning I have rarely done it) anything that stays alive is a success to me. In an update from my last blog (I'm not sure if it was posted correctly) I have a few that are doing great, some well, some recovering, and some....well....dead. I planted parsnips at the very beginning of my raised bed adventure; mostly because they looked like carrots on the package. So next to them, I planted REAL carrots. The parsnips anyway, I was told take a long time to grow. However, after not seeing a single sprout, I hoe-d the dirt to find only seeds!!! Needless to say, I put something else in their place: some beets and something else I can't remember. It's like a reddish rhubarb. I had never heard of it before, but I seem to do quite well with those kind of plants. My kale, which I had never heard of before, is doing amazing! It's the most flourishing green plant in my whole raised bed! My eggplant is recovering, although I don't think it's gonna sprout a plant. As for my cucumber and watermelon, *sniff, I think they're goners. I tried. My brocolli, onions and new set of peas are coming along good. I'm quite happy. My marigolds however, ye gads. I have no clue whats going on with THOSE things. And finally, my tomatoe; most of our tomatoes are doing quite well, mine being no exception. Although the leaves are a little crunchy on the edge, the two tomaters are doing fine! I'm very happy with how the squash and pumpkins are doing in the field (in case some of you have driven by and wondered what that is under the plastic) Although I did have a discussion with a teacher about the thermal differences between clear plastic and black plastic (I think he meant in retaining heat, not absorbing) I discovered that that goes for just heat, not sunlight. So in fact, black plastic keeps out weeds, whereas clear plastic makes everything grow like the plants are on freakin' steroids! INCLUDING WEEDS! But I digress; the squash and pumpkins are growing just as well. Walking on the plastic is like walking on a sponge! The weathers all over the place, so it's hard to know when you have to water, cover them up, etc. We need some consistancy dang it!

Vegetables aside, I'm looking forward to the camps, workshops, cafes, and other activities we have planned for the rest of the summer. If anyone has it, I've posted the events on facebook. Even to people who live in other countries! But hey, if they show up, I'll be thoroughly surprised. I hope the "Recess" is a big hit. I feel that a lot of older youth out there wants to play those old school games again, they just need the means of meeting up and having it planned, what with our busy schedules these days. Here's hopin!

How it's going so far...

So I'm not an actual garden challenge participant. I'm sure there's some legal clause in my contract somewhere that forbids me to be one. But I DO have a raised bed at the community demonstration garden. We've been having our fair share of excitement and diappointment. All my plants are ALIVE at least. My cucumber, watermelon and egg plant *sniff, aren't doing too hot. But I put a loosely draped plastic cover to warm things up. I want to do it properly though, but it will have to wait. Otherwise, my plants are doing good. I planted some peas today. I hope they grow up big. I made a "mystery pot" with a few seeds from various things. It's a challenge: what will grow, what will SURVIVE?!??! And despite having lots of weeds (like LOTS) growing under the plastic cover for the squash and pumpkins, they however, are growing fantastically. We're still learning. Part of that learning; use black plastic next time.