July 23, 2025
Surprises are welcome and appreciated! Our pantry was filled with surprises this week! It began on Monday with an enthusiastic group of youth from Minnesota who volunteered in the garden, toured the pantry, and helped stock the shelves in the pantry. What a delightful energetic group! The next surprise was a donation of cases of Chicken and Dumpling Soup from Arden Woods that practically filled one of our large racks. Thank you, Carol, for transporting the soup and to Arden Woods for such a tasty donation.
On a personal note, I believe one of the best surprises this week were the number of volunteers who assisted with the youth on Monday, worked on Wednesday for the Mini-Manna delivery, and harvested on Thursday night and other days throughout the week. On Friday, volunteers arrived early to help stock shelves. We are especially thankful for the new volunteers who helped on Saturday as we distributed food to 134 families. Let us not forget the volunteers who came this week to deliver the food, shelve donations, check the temperatures, and prepare the pantry for the different days of volunteering. You all are the best!
We welcomed 134 families representing 497 individuals. There were six new families representing 17 family members. We continue to need volunteers who can help with Spanish registrations. Once a month would be very helpful!
On behalf of our Pantry Board, we express our heartfelt gratitude for your generous food and monetary donations to our pantry. Your donations will make a significant impact on the lives of those in our community who are struggling with food insecurity.
-Kathy Noyes, for the Executive Committee
The Lord’s Acre of Fletcher – July 22, 2025
Compost Bin Changes – Thanks to heavy weeding in the garden, contributions from the pantry and friends with kitchen scraps, we have filled up the "working" bin behind the garden shed. That bin is now marked "full" and will break down into rich and nourishing compost in the months to come. Note that the sign indicates where now to put refuse from the garden or kitchen scraps. Since we have what's called a "cold" compost pile (it doesn't heat up significantly), it's best to avoid hard-to-compost items like corn cobs. Don't forget that coffee grounds, including filters, are welcome. The bin on the far right has finished compost ready for use.
Tomatoes LUV the Hoop House – Hoop houses aren't just for extending the harvest season into the fall and winter. They also protect tomato plants from rain on their leaves. Wet leaves promote the spread of the fungal Early Blight, which dooms most tomato plants in this humid area to a slow lingering death. Thanks to the Community Foundation of Henderson County, the Deerfield Foundation, other grantors, and lots of volunteers who made our hoop houses possible.
(The first photo below shows the last gasps of the tomato plants in the field, and the second photo shows thriving tomato plants in the hoop house, which are actually three weeks older.)
