Y'all Isn't the Only Difference...

When I left home Natureman had spent an entire week cleaning out the barn and hauling the 'enriched' hay up to the garden. He had also started roto-tilling part of the garden when he was interrupted by daily rain. So  here's the veggie garden I left last week in the End of the Rainbow Valley.

Partial view of our vegetable  garden

My trip down South to Little Rock, Arkansas truly illustrated the difference between gardening zones.  My brother Marc stopped by Dunbar's Community Garden Project a 2 acre outdoor neighborhood classroom worked by elementary and middle school classes . There are chickens, goats and bees besides the organic gardens. 

I was a bit early to see blooms on their sunflowers planted by their freight car storage shed but look how far ahead their gardens are in Arkansas' zone 6 compared to zone 4 here in southwestern Wisconsin despite Arkansas' very cold winter.

Garlic

Broccoli

The sugar snap peas already had blossoms on them.  

Monday the students would be helping  harvest their 20 some odd pounds of lettuce. 15 out of that 20 will go to the middle school kitchen and the remainder's sold to area restaurant chefs. One of the adult Corp workers was busily leaving phone messages as to what produce would would be available this week if the chefs wanted to include it in their daily specials. Produce is also sold at area farmer markets.

If the rains held off there would be a full day of classes coming to the garden.







Brother Marc's Rotary Club helped donate the last amount owed for the garden's wind turbine, they also might be helping with some funding for a future endeavor for an outdoor classroom shelter. 

For urban and suburban kids who don't grow up in a country setting like End of the Rainbow Valley what a terrific way to learn about where your food comes from, to eat locally and what it means to be organic...