Water!

Its been a long time coming, and our water system is finally in place (well, mostly). We are using PVC pipe irrigation coming out of a fire hydrant to water all 9 of the market gardens and community gardens.

For weeks, Ami has been diligently laying pipes and connectors, fixing leaks both large and small and telling children to "hey! get off the pipe!". Last Tuesday, we turned on the system for the first time and it was truly a sight to see. Pelagie started dancing in the shower of cool water and totally soaked me with a hose. The growers were so happy to be able to water without using buckets.

Ami takes a big fat drink from our cool water.

The kids love splashing around on a hot hot afternoon.

Dena waters her celery.

Pelagie's tomatoes are freshly mulched and fertilized with composted chicken manure.

The crew helps Lew scoop chicken poop out of the truck. They kept shouting "chicken poop" really loud and sticking their fists in the air.

Veggies aren't the only thing growing at the farm, Makay is getting bigger every day.

June Rains and Ethnic Veggies!

We've had so much rain this month! The farm has been really muddy, and I even got the bus stuck in the mud. It took about ten people to push it out! (I wish I had pictures of that day.) The rain has been helping things grow, and we have lots of tomato plants and weeds to prove it.

A farm with a view!

We are working on installing our irrigation system, but for the first few weeks have been using a tank with a pump, hoses and buckets to water.

Thankfully the rain has kept us from carrying too many buckets.

The kids love being outside at the farm!


Yesterday we had a meeting with Ted Carey from K-State about trialing ethnic vegetables at the New Roots Farm. Katherine and Ted presented pictures of different crops and asked the women about their history with them- have they grown them in their country of origin? do they cook with them? do they think that Americans would buy the vegetable at the Farmer's Market? We will be growing three ethnic crops this summer and more next summer. Look for unfamilliar vegetables at the New Roots tent at the Brookside Farmers Market and give them a try.