Our Permaculture Food Forest at Church of the Good Shepherd in Baywood is in its fifth year of development, and we made great progress in 2021 despite the pandemic. In fact, we looked forward to gathering outdoors, staying several feet apart but being able to “be together” as we worked. Some of the features added and tasks accomplished last year include:
- A new sign for the entrance to the garden
- A set of raised beds for the Cross Garden at the garden entrance
- Five wooden benches donated by members and supporters
- A deer fence around our new annual crop garden, which was planted with sweet potatoes, peas, and tomatoes
- 180 pounds of sweet potatoes harvested for Food Independence’s November distribution
- Twelve gallons of tomatoes preserved for God’s Storehouse in Galax
- Installation of a pollinator garden for Janet Brathwaite, who won this service at the 2020 Grayson LandCare Service Auction.
- Boulders collected from Rob Meinecke’s riverfront property and placed at the entrance
- Numbers on all of the Memorial fruit trees keyed to a map detailing location, memorial, and type of tree
Now that spring is almost here, we are ready to tackle this year’s projects! You are welcome to join us this Saturday, March 19th, at the garden for a picnic lunch (bring your own) and a tour of the garden—or you can bring your garden tools and pitch in! We will be sheet mulching an area and also mulching the berms and cleaning up dead foliage. For more information, contact permaculture@graysonlandcare.
