October 25, 2023

Want to keep up with the Pantry and Garden? Then we have one word for you...Roller Skates. There is so much activity preparing for the neighbor food distribution on Saturday that sauntering along will leave you in the dust. (Only kidding-us over 60 are keeping up pretty well.) On Sunday afternoon, Blue Ghost Brewery supported a fundraiser for the Pantry. The band, Steady State, offered music and fellowship time for attendees' from our community. The $700.00 raised at this event will be used for pantry food. On Monday, Kappa, a retired teacher group, held their monthly meeting at the pantry to learn about food insecurity in our community. They brought a shopping cart full of items that food stamps can't be used for like personal care products, shampoo, tooth brushes, toilet paper etc. Several Sous chef volunteers helped Tuesday at the Pantry to assist Chef Martha as she prepared three tasty recipes for the Carolina Kitchen segment on WLOS. Bill Evans, videographer, filmed the segment. Oyster Mushrooms sautéed in herbs and oil, a sweet potato topped with street corn and a sour cream/lime sauce, and a veggie bean, tomato, and greens soup are the recipes that can be found on the WLOS website. Wednesday and Thursday volunteers helped with sorting daily donations and checking the freezers. Friday is stocking the shelves day. On Saturday, we served 141 households representing 500 individuals and welcomed nine new families.

Just a reminder, we are hosting a Thank You Cookout for all of our LAF Garden and Pantry Volunteers in the garden on Thursday, October 26 from 4-6:30. Gather in the garden for burgers, dogs, chips, slaw, and dessert. Bring a drink and a chair. We'll gather around the campfire to celebrate a record year in the garden and pantry. Music will be provided by the Calvary musicians.

Donations this week included Bimbos and City Bakery with bread and bakery items. Bright Farms donated 25 cases of salad. Other donors include. Flavor-First-tomatoes and peppers, Wal-Mart and Big Lots, misc items and food, Project Dignity-feminine products, Humane Society- dog/cat food and Milk Co-milk. Nativity Lutheran, Fletcher UMC, Calvary Episcopal, the Tabernacle of Praise Churches, and other anonymous donors contributed their time, food, and misc. items during the week.

On behalf of the Executive Committee, thank you to our volunteers and our area churches, civic groups, local merchants, and families for all you do to feed our community helping to reduce food insecurity. We thank you and appreciate your food and monetary donations.

— Kathy Noyes

News from the lord’s acre, fletcher

PLANS FOR LAF GARDEN 2024

I’m well into a planting and harvest schedule for 2024. Here’s a diagram that shows what’s in the ground in May. It’s too small to see labels, but, from the right in the hoop house, there are: a row of golden bell peppers, two rows of various tomatoes, bell peppers, and jalapeno peppers. In the field, eight beds of collards and six beds of romaine lettuce, two trellises of tomatoes (shared with beets), and two of cucumbers (with bibb lettuce), followed by two rows of yellow squash and five rows of watermelon. The brown rows are bare in May and will be filled by successions of adjacent crops to extend their season.

We are not expanding garden space next year, but I’m hoping we can use our current space more efficiently. Careful planning will help.

A BLESSING BEFORE A MEAL

Since we’ll be eating together Thursday evening, here is a blessing from “Eating Together Faithfully”, a Duke Endowment program coming from the United Methodist Church:

Make us always humble and thankful, Holy God, for creating us as bodies who eat from the body of the earth. For this food which has risen from the soil and for Jesus who has risen from the grave, we sing your praises forever. Amen.

—Doug Kearney