November 2 - Cleanup This Sunday, Nov. 6

Susanne Joss asks: Please join us if you can to clean up the garden from the last summer crop, add fresh wood chips to the paths and lay the garden to rest for the winter. We will begin after the service on Sunday, November 6. Bring gloves and a shovel if you have them.

Susanne Joss reports: The summer garden season has ended and we enjoyed a steady harvest of fresh vegetables. Each year proves to have different successes. This year our winter squash took off and provided the biggest harvest. Basil also grew in abundance and much pesto was made that can be enjoyed all winter long. Fresh strawberries and a significant crop of blackberries made it a pleasure to work in the garden while munching on those treats. Not to forget the beautiful flowers that "burst into bloom" just as promised by the Canvass Committee.

Many thanks to Nancy Marshall and the Garden Share Table volunteers who assured our harvest goes to local food banks. Thanks also to the Sunday morning harvest volunteers who came early to supply the Garden Share Table with a fresh harvest display during coffee hour.

Thinking ahead about the coming year, I would like to pass on the garden management to another set of green thumbs. Michael and I have plans for more travel and will not be around as much. The garden management does not require any expert gardening skills, but rather a desire to try it out. I will be around to help out and offer support.

If you have any interest please let me know so I can share the challenges and success of the garden with you.

August 24 - Volunteer Sign-Ups

Susanne Joss reports: For the last few weeks we had a volunteer signed up once a week for harvest duty. The help came mainly from members of the Mission Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation (MPUUC). Here's the harvesting schedule for the month of September:

Sept. 4th: Mark Henriquez
Sept 11: Rich family
Sept. 18: Jen King
Sept 25: Valerie Steward

The harvest will go to personal use and to the Tri City Food Bank or the Milpitasl Food Pantry, whichever one is closer to you. I will be at the garden Friday morning to clean up the winter squash and do some weeding, join me if you can.

Thanks again Steve for watering and letting us know that the irrigation system needed some tending. My wonderful husband already fixed it!

August 14 - Water Timer Fixed

Michael Joss reports: Susanne and I are back from vacation and stopped by the garden. I changed the battery and automatic watering is going again (thanks Steve for the alert). We did harvest some 25 pounds of zucchini and gave it away on our front-yard vegi stand. Thanks everyone for helping out to keep the garden in shape. There are tomatoes to harvest, squash, basil and more zucchinis. Feel free to drop by and pick some.

August 8 - Water Timer Needs Fixing

Steve LaGraffe reports: I went by the garden today after work and it looks like the timer is dead due to needing a new 9v battery. If anybody can go by there and replace the battery that would be great since I did not have one on me at the time.

Also there are alot of tomatoes that are ripe and some are falling on the ground and also squash that need to be harvested because some of them are getting way too big. I did hand-water the garden while I was there because it looked a little dry.

July 13 - Our Garden is Bursting Into Bloom

Susanne Joss reports: Our spring canvass theme of "bursting into bloom" has become reality as you can see with the beautiful flowers in front of our garden. Just in case you don't know this; they are the seeds members planted at this years canvass parties.

Our vegetables are slowly coming in, due to the cold spring we are a bit behind. Thanks to Parker who planted our potatoes we had a strong harvest and I hope some of those potatoes made it into your kitchen and on your dinner plates. A variety of squashes will be coming to the garden share table and of course tomatoes in a few weeks. Valerie's blackberry patch is doing well, keep an eye out for those wonderful berries.

Despite repeated efforts from Alex, all of our cucumbers have been eaten by the squirrels. We have now given up on growing them at this location. Many thanks to Ed Green who has put up some protective structures to discourage the invaders.

If you walk through the garden this Sunday you will see the plants being sprinkled with black pepper. This is another defense against the squirrels. Please do not hose off the pepper from the plants. The garden is on an automatic watering system and gets enough water now, so no additional sprinkling is needed.

July 6 - Work Party Saturday the 9th

Susanne Joss reports: We'll be digging up the rest of the potatoes and replanting green beans and cucumbers because the ground squirrels have been really bad this year. Come at 9:30 to help.

June 20 - More News about the Garden Share Table

Nancy Marshall reports: Every Sunday, produce from our community garden as well as our members' gardens is available in exchange for a small donation.

Please bring in any extras you have from your own garden - vegetables, fruit, herbs, even flowers! And, before you place your items on the table, please place some produce into the food bank basket. We are trying to give more regularly to food banks this year through direct produce donations from members' gardens, by members buying from the table and putting items in to the basket and leftovers.

Also remember to bring a bag to take items home and a few dollars for the donation box. Let's enjoy the Garden Share Table!

May 29 - The Garden Share Table Is Now Open

Nancy Marshall reports: Each Sunday you can find an assortment of fresh produce from our community garden, as well as from members' gardens, on a table outside Cole Hall. Help yourself to whatever you want or need. We just ask that you make a donation in our Garden Share Box. You can also buy something and put it in our Food Bank container.

Members are encouraged to bring in any excess from their gardens for this table. Please put a few items into the Food Bank container before you place the rest on the table. This year we plan to donate on a regular basis to the Milpitas Food Pantry and the Viola Blyth food bank.

Here's hoping you'll find fresh fruit and vegetables to your liking on our sharing table. Flowers and plants/cuttings are also welcome.

Swiss chard has been on the table recently and people are always asking what to do with it. Here is a recipe courtesy of Lucienne Bouvier:

SIMPLE SWISS CHARD (serves 2)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch Swiss chard, stalks discarded, leaves cut into wide ribbons
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the garlic and cook until tender and aromatic, about 2 minutes. Add Swiss chard and vinegar and stir until chard is wilted and tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

May 10 - Come Help Saturday, May 14

Susanne Joss reports: Our transplants are looking good. The flowers along the fence are coming along. Various squashes have already trippled in size. The cucumbers are still struggling a bit; as long as the squirrels leave them alone they should be fine.

We will plant basil this Saturday May 14th at 10 am, stake the tomatoes, do some weeding and other garden chores. Join if you can.

April 24 - Garden Share

Nancy Marshall reports: The Garden Share Table is a popular and tasty Mission Peak fundraising project. Starting May 22 and going through the growing season, this table will hold the latest harvest from our community garden and the overflow from individual members' gardens. After church you can choose produce to take home; we just ask that you leave a donation in the table's collection box. The money collected goes towards our church garden and the general fund.

Another part of this project is helping our larger community. Last year we took left over items to a local food bank. This year we will not just depend on not-chosen produce for these donations. We will set up a special container labeled "Food Bank". When you bring items from your home garden, you can put some of them directly into the Food Bank container. You can also buy vegetables from the table and put them in the container - a win/win for both Mission Peak and the food banks!

Many of us are now planting our vegetable and herb gardens. This year consider planting an extra plant or two for donations to our Garden Share table. Flowers and fruit are also welcome at the table as well as extra seedlings, plant divisions and rooted cuttings.

In order for this project to work we need a few volunteers to take care of the table and collection box on Sundays, as well as people to take food bank items to a local center. These are easy tasks and would only need to do once or twice a month if we get enough helpers. If you can help, please contact Nancy Marshall.

April 17 - Leaf Garden in April

April 4 - Gardening this Sunday the 10th

Susanne Joss reports: Our next work party is scheduled for Sunday, April 10 at 11:15 am.

We are getting a load of compost that needs to go into our beds. I would also like to get some more woodchips hauled up to refresh our walkways.

This will be the day for planting our flowers, squashes and some cucumbers that have been raised at my house under the growing lights. Possibly the first tomatoes will go in as well. Come on out if you can.

March 24 - Help Keep MPUUC's Community Garden Growing Strong

Jen King asks: Do you love seeing our MPUUC Community Garden blooming and growing as you come and go for services, meetings, etc.? Would you like to be part of helping to ensure that it continues? Below are some ways that you can participate. If you would like to participate in one of these ways (or in ways not mentioned here), please contact Jen King.

Garden Work Parties - Participate in a work party in the garden. These are scheduled on an "as needed" basis. If you would like to be on the notification list for the work parties please let Jen King know.

Scheduled Garden Volunteers - Starting in May (and continuing through October) we need a team of garden volunteers who will be scheduled to come in on a regular basis (only once a month if we get enough volunteers) to check on the garden, harvest what is ready, check that the watering system is working, and do some light weeding. This is truly a case of many hands make light work - if we have 8 volunteers everyone will only need to take a shift once a month. Training will be provided for the volunteers. If you'd like to volunteer, please let Jen King know.

Garden Share Volunteers - As many of you know, we provide a Garden Share table outside of Cole Hall every Sunday from May through October. Harvest from the MPUUC Community Garden as well as excess harvest from the gardens of other congregation members and friends is placed on the table and, for a small donation, anyone can take home some of this amazing bounty. We need a team of volunteers who will be responsible for setting up and taking down the Garden Share table on Sundays. Again, if we get enough volunteers each person will only have to do it once or twice a month. If you'd like to volunteer, please contact Jen King. Also, please keep the Garden Share table in mind as you plant your own gardens at home and perhaps plant a little extra.

Food Bank Coordinator(s) - One of the goals of our MPUUC Community Garden is not only to benefit and nourish our own MPUUC Community, but also the community at large. To this end excess harvest from our garden and from the garden share table is donated to local food banks and soup kitchens. We need someone to coordinate this effort for us. This would entail identifying local organizations who would welcome donations of fresh, locally grown produce, and then coordinating how to get our produce to them. Please contact Jen King if you are interested.

Donations - If you lack the time or physical ability to participate in the ways listed above, but would still like to support our Community Garden please feel free to make a donation. We accept donations of money or supplies. If you'd like to donate money, please make the check out to MPUUC and put "MPUUC Community Garden" on the memo line. If you'd like to donate tools or supplies, please contact Susanne Joss to find out what we need. One thing that I know we will need is large amounts of ground black pepper (such as can be purchased from Costco). We use this as an environmentally friendly deterrent for the squirrels.

Let's all pitch in to keep our wonderful garden growing strong!!

March 3 - Work Party Set for March 27

Susanne Joss reports: Our next work party is scheduled for Sunday, March 27 at 11:15 am to 12:15pm.

February 22 - Still Trying to do Winter Weeding

Susanne Joss reports: Ok, we got rained out. Twice. I will not give up. Garden meeting and work party will be Feb. 26, 1-3 pm.

If it rains or the soil is too wet due to rain in the morning we will hold a brief garden meeting at my house at 1 pm. This should not last more than 1 hour.

Hoping for some clear skies...

February 10 - Winter Weeding

Susanne Joss reports: Since we got rained out on January 25th, I am rescheduling our work party for Saturday, Feb. 19th, 2-4pm. Please join us if you can so we can discuss our plans for this season, do some weeding and garden-area clean up. We also need to prune the pear and apple tree. So if you have clippers, please bring them. This event is weather permitting of course, cancel if rain.

October 26 - Preparation for Winter

Susanne Joss reports: As of today here are the chores left to do:

1. Pull out dying tomato plants, cut in smaller pieces and place in compost bins.
2. Turn the compost bins and water them.
3. Clean up the keyhole bed, hoe the soil together towards the center of the bed. It can be replanted with your favorite winter vegetables: kale, cabbage, swiss chard, cauliflower, etc.

Susanne and Michael Joss report: The summer season has come to an end and the harvest from this small garden plot across from Cole Hall has certainly topped our expectations. We had some discussion about what might have contributed to the success but we could never nail it down. Was it the gentle blessing of the garden from Rev. Joy and members of MPUUC, or was it simply the mushroom compost?

Of course with the garden in its first year we also realize that we need better communication and organization for the next season.

The garden is a joint effort of MPUUC and LEAF (Local Ecology and Agriculture Fremont). We also get other LEAF members from the community working, harvesting and taking home vegetables from this garden. Please give them a warm welcome, we really need their help.

For the summer season, most vegetables harvested went on the garden share table at MPUUC. We have now agreed that future harvests will go 2/3 to the volunteers working and 1/3 to LEAF. Please be open to this change. LEAF did not claim their 1/3 portion this year. LEAF plans to sell its produce from various garden sites throughout Fremont to the local community. We also donated produce to the local homeless shelter Sunrise Village and, thanks to Allysson McDonald, leftovers from the garden share table went to the Milpitas Food Pantry.

We want to thank all who support the garden and want to invite others to drop by any time. We love your visits; they gives us energy to keep going. Please contact us if you want to be more involved. The best way to stay updated is to join us. You can then join the LEAF Garden on Washington Blvd. site which gives you access to the calendar, activities and discussion.

Susanne Joss reports: We now have broccoli, onions, peas, potatoes, some leek and a few celery in the ground for our winter crop. Of course there could always be more planted like swiss chard, kale, cabbage, garlic, cauliflower, etc. If you feel inclinded please go ahead and plant whatever you like. The keyhole bed in the center is empty now. If you come to the garden and would like to work but are unclear what to do, here is an updated chores list:

1. Pull out dying tomato plants, cut in smaller pieces and put in black compost bins
2. Turn the compost and water it
3. Keep peremiter of the garden weed free (weeds should not go in our black compost bins but rather in the green bin next to the church office)
4. Keep paths free of growth
5. Prune dead branches of pear tree (do not throw in compost, make a pile next to the tree)
6. Weed the strawberries

Please join us for a brief garden meeting on Sunday after the service at the MPUUC garden site. We will go over the summer season and discuss plans for the fall.

At the same time we will start planting fall crop IF there is help available to do so. It's time for potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. to go into the soil. If you have any transplants you would like to donate, please bring them with you. Potatoes were a big hit in our garden and I will have them ready to get planted this Sunday. Kids, with supervision, are welcome to help.

July 19 - The Pepper is Working!

Jenny Mosley says: Just came back from watering the garden... I saw NO squirrels and NO chewed on vegetables. The whole place smells like pepper. Great job Jen !!

July 15 - Would You Like Pepper With That?

[To deter squirrels from harvesting cucumbers and egg plants on their own, the gardeners found these choices: fox urine (too expensive), moth balls (too dangerous around children), or pepper.]

Jen King says: This afternoon I deposited almost 6 pounds of pepper in, on, and around the garden. Probably could have used another 3 pounds or so. I have to go back to Costco tomorrow so might get a bit more. If anyone wants to kick in some $$ I've spent about $25 so far and will spend another $12 tomorrow. All that pepper made me sneeze now we'll see if it has any affect on the squirrels :-)

July 7 - Green Beans Abundant in the Garden

Susanne says: Yesterday I picked 18 lbs. of green beans and 15 lbs. of cucumbers and summer squash in the MPUUC garden. I brought those vegetables to our local homeless shelter Sunrise Village.

I want to be sure that all MPUUC members know they can pick vegetables at any time in the garden to bring home. So if you are in need of a dinner, instead of heading down to Safeway, please feel free to swing by the garden. Currently you will find green beans (look closely some are bush beans and grow low), summer squash, cucumbers, basil and the first peppers. Tomatoes and eggplant will be coming soon.

For those not able to pick themselves, we will place veggies on the Garden Share table on Sundays as well.

June 22 - Potato Harvest

Susanne says: We stopped watering our potatoes about 2 weeks ago and they are ready to be harvested. We could use some help digging them up on Sunday morning, June 27, 9-10 am. Anyone is welcome, bring a shovel and gloves if you have. You get to take home what you harvest; what is left will go on the Garden Share table.

June 6 - After Weeding

Doesn't it clean up pretty? And that corn on the left is definitely moving higher in the warm weather. California summer is here!

May 30 - Thriving Corn and Potatoes

May 23 - Sunday is a Garden Workday

See how our garden grows! Susanne and Michael are hard at work.

P.S. We're going to need that fence. Something much bigger than a snail enjoyed much of the flowers in front of Susanne. Only the cosmos were spared.

May 21 - Community Garden Update

Jen King says: The garden is looking great. Things are growing well. We already have some flowers blooming and a few strawberries turning red. The snails have munched the lettuce, but everything else is looking good. Now we just have to keep it that way. Susanne and Michael Joss will be heading up work days after church every Sunday in June. Please participate if you can. Also, see below for tasks that can be accomplished before or after church or whenever you have time during the week:

Weeding: Volunteers have been watering the garden regularly and things are growing rapidly - including the weeds. We need to weed the actual garden beds, but we would also like to clean up the weeds outside of the garden - particularly in front of the garden and a 1-to-2-foot border all around the outside of the fence.

Finishing the Fence: We have all the pickets we need to complete the fence, we just need to get them painted and put up. Valerie Stewart's husband has offered to put them up for us so we need to get them painted. The pickets, plastic ground cover, sawhorses, paint brushes, paint, and everything else you need to paint pickets is located in one of the bins to the right of the garden (as you face it). It's all covered with an orange tarp. The best way to paint the pickets is to put the plastic ground cover down, put the saw horses on it, lean the pickets up against the saw horses, pick a color, and paint away. Please be sure to clean the brushes as best you can after you're done. There is a bucket for this purpose in the bin. Everything can be cleaned with water. If you have any questions call Jen King. We have a fair amount of paint, but could use some yellow if anyone has any.

We've come a long way and it's looking great, but we can't stop now. Many thanks to all who have put time in especially: Susanne, Michael, Valerie, and Bruce.

May 10 - Community Garden Meeting

Jen King says: There will be a meeting to organize on-going care of the MPUUC Community Garden Sunday, May 16, at 9:00 am in the garden itself. We would like to have as many people attend as possible. If you would like to help out with the ongoing care and maintenance of the garden, but are unable to attend the meeting, please contact Susanne or Michael Joss at susejoss at hotmail.com or michaeljoss at sbcglobal.net.

Also, a reminder about our new Garden Share Program at MPUUC: Do you have extra fruit or veggies from your back yard that you can't use? Continuing through the summer, a Garden Share table will be available during the coffee hour after church. Bring your extra fruits, vegetables, herbs, seedlings, plants, flowers, etc. that you want to share and place them on the table. Anyone can take whatever they'd like and think they can use from the table and make a donation in the box provided. This is a great way to share in our congregation's gardening wealth and help support Mission Peak at the same time!

May 4 - Need Help Watering the Garden

Susanne Joss says: With this nice warm weather we need help watering our newly established garden. The plants are very tender at this young age and need a bit of tending to. While the irrigation system is making progress we are not quite ready to hook it up. If you are available on Friday or Saturday please let me know. This will only take about 15 min.

Tuesday: Susanne
Wednesday: Jen
Thursday: Janelle
Friday: ?
Saturday: ?
Sunday: Lorna

April 28 - Join Mission Peak's Garden Share Program

Jen King says: Do you have extra fruit or veggies from your back yard that you can't use? Or do you not have the time or space for your own garden, but would love to have more locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables for your table? Well, we've got the solution for you!

Starting Sunday, May 2, (and continuing through the summer) a Garden Share Table will be available during the coffee hour after church. Bring your extra fruits, vegetables, herbs, seedlings, plants, flowers, etc. that you want to share and place them on the table. Anyone can take whatever they'd like and think they can use from the table and make a donation in the box provided. This is a great way to share in our congregation's gardening wealth and help support Mission Peak at the same time!

Susanne Joss says: After this past weekend's beautiful blessing, the garden is off to a good start.

Thanks to our seedling-raising volunteers, we planted a variety of tomatoes and squashs, cucumbers, lettuce, cilantro, corn, basil, some early peppers, carrots and beans. I do believe that Janet and Drew's YELLOW PEPPERS will turn into wonderful GREEN BEANS!

Our flowers are Calendula, Cornflowers, and Cosmos. Along the picket fence we have sweet peas and sunflowers.

We also started a bed of strawberries.

The watering schedule for this week is:
Monday: Susanne
Tuesday: Susanne
Thursday:Justine
Saturday : Jen
Sunday: all

Please feel empowered to plant on your own and what you would like to see grow there.

The keyhole bed when you enter still has a lot of space. Some of the hot-loving vegetables like eggplants and peppers need more time to grow first before transplanting.

Things we need:

• A new garden hose - make it a long one so we can reach the entire garden
• Sunflower seeds
• Organic compost to top off the strawberries
• 2 bags of top soil for the corn, this bed has low fill and 1 bag of compost (any amount of compost is welcome!)

Things to do:

• As we water, more rocks will become apparent. Take them out. I just throw them under the mystery trees in the back.
• Break up some of the clumps of dirt in the beds.
• Finish the paths with newspaper under, then wood chips.
• Irrigation
• Fence

April 18 - Planting Festival (Postponed by Rain from April 11)

Rev. Joy Atkinson leads a blessing of the garden ceremony after church on Sunday, April 18.

April 4 - Last Garden Workday Before Planting Festival

The garden looks great and with a few improvements this weekend April 4th , we will be ready for the planting festival on Sunday, April 11. This Sunday after church we'll be working on:
- adding drip irrigation
- finishing pathways
- preparing the remaining areas for planting
- finishing the fence/gate

The gardeners have been busy building raised beds and even erecting an attractive and color fence.

March 17 - Community Gardens Help Reduce World's Food Problems

On the San Jose Mercury News editorial page this day, Les Kishler of the Los Gatos-based nonprofit Community Gardens As Appleseeds, wrote an op-ed article. It starts:

The world is faced with a difficult dilemma. Available food supply and access to this supply are out of sync. For the poorest, this is a matter of survival. For others, it is a matter of economics and land use. The right amount of food in the right location is the goal. Community gardening can be an important part of the solution.

Read the rest of it here.

According to the March 11 Wall Street Journal, the sustainable agriculture/local food movement in the Bay Area is having to compete with everything from developers looking to put houses on high-quality Bay Area cropland, to local governments looking for more revenue in these lean times.

Environmental Concerns

Concern for the environment is one of three areas of outreach that our congregation agreed to focus on. (The others are Social Concerns and Mental Health.)

Our UU seventh and sixth principles speak to our concern for the environment: Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part and The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.

Our most recent effort on the part of our concern for the environment is to start a community garden. Read on:

Join Us As Mission Peak's Community Garden Takes Off!

Many Mission Peak members have long been interested in gardening and now, thanks to the generosity of our hosts, the Methodists, we can join in this seasonal journey of growth together.

March 14, 2009 - Community Garden Day - Rototilling and Raised Beds

The Methodists have generously offered us the use of the land just east of the Cole Hall parking lot for our garden. Two planning meetings have already been held and we are lucky to not only have a large number of dedicated and energetic MPUUC volunteers, but we can also count a majority of the board members of the newly created LEAF (Local Ecology and Agriculture Fremont) organization here in Fremont as members of Mission Peak.

LEAF has generously offered to help us get our garden going as well as assisting with donated materials and volunteers. Several work days have already been scheduled (see below for tentative details). Other work days will be added as necessary. Please bring your shovels, rakes, hoes, wheelbarrows, gloves, brown bag lunch, and enthusiasm and join us after the service.

If you have supplies (wood, chicken wire, drip hose, plants, seeds, decorations, tools, etc.) that you would like to donate, please contact Michael Joss at michaeljoss at sbcglobal.net. If you're interested in helping with garden-related children's activities, planning the Planting Festival, or helping out in other non-physical labor intensive ways, please contact Jen King at jenking at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu.

1. February 21 - Strip down the current garden (saving what we can to be re-used), string the outline for the garden we have planned.
2. February 28 - Rototill the garden, shave paths, build fence.
3. March 14 - Build, fill, and compost raised beds; put in irrigation.
4. April 11 - Planting Festival!! This will be a festive day for the whole congrega-tion complete with a blessing of the gar-den, activities for the kids, food, music, and LOTS of celebrating as a community. Please plan on joining us!

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