Seed descriptions available – place pre-orders now!

Descriptions of the seeds available at the 2011 heirloom seed sale are now posted: https://infeed.wordpress.com/2011-seed-descriptions/. This year’s selection features 25 new varieties, three of them locally grown and collected.

Pre-orders may be placed by e-mail and will be accepted until Wednesday 9 March; orders received after that date will not be filled until the customer arrives at the sale. Pre-orders must be picked up during the seed sale hours (8 a.m. to 3 p.m.) on 12 March. Pre-orders will be filled in the order in which they are received.

See you at the seed sale!

The seed sale is coming!

Mark your calendar for the third annual In-Feed Heirloom Seed Sale! This year we will be at Woodland Christian Church, on Saturday 12 March from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

We’re in the process of formatting the 2011 list of seeds and descriptions, and we will take pre-orders this year. Watch this space for more information and the new catalog. It’s time to begin dreaming about spring and summer gardening…

End-of-season garden forum

It’s been a long, hot, dry, and grueling season. Most of us faced our share of challenges this past summer with the unusual weather. As we gear up for our next seed sale in March, we’d like to hear from you about how your summer went. We want to know all about your unabashed successes and agonizing failures. We also hope to find out what seed varieties you were happy/unhappy with and any suggestions you have for NEW seeds next year. All this feedback will allow us to better serve your gardening needs in 2011.

In-Feed will host a garden forum on Thursday, November 11, at 6:30 p.m. at The Rock/La Roca United Methodist Church (1015 North Limestone) in Lexington. We hope you are able to attend and join in the fun, as we discuss and examine the 2010 growing season. Please RSVP by e-mail (see link at right) or call BOB at 270-4027.

If you are unable to attend, we would still very much like to have your feedback. Please let us know via e-mail what worked for you this season and what didn’t, and any suggestions you have for next year. This information is very valuable to us in planning for next year’s sale, and we greatly appreciate your time and effort in sharing it with us.

Gardening education opportunity

Next Tuesday, the October meeting of the Edible Garden Series will convene at Beaumont Presbyterian Church. The EGS is a great opportunity to share with and learn from other gardeners. For more information, go to http://faithfeeds.wordpress.com/.

Support your local (small) farmer!

The East End Community Market is now open!

With the support of Community Ventures Corporation, several small local growers will be offering their produce for sale at the pavilion behind Third Street Exchange, at the corner where Winchester Road, 3rd Street, and Midland Avenue meet.

The market opens at 8:00 a.m. and runs until noon on Saturdays.

Planting the fall garden

Next Wednesday 11 August, the Edible Garden Series will continue with a workshop on fall vegetable gardening. Lexington’s late first frost date (last week of October on average) means we can take full advantage of cooler fall temperatures to extend the bounty we receive from our gardens. Come find out what to plant and when to plant it to make the most of what knowledgeable gardeners call “the second season.”

The hour-long workshop begins at 6:30 p.m. at Beaumont Presbyterian Church, 1070 Lane Allen Road in Lexington. For more information, contact John Walker at igrowfood@insightbb.com.

In the news — again!

Once again, In-Feed has made the local news. The July 28 edition of Lexington’s North of Center newspaper features an update on the small neighborhood garden on North Limestone. Support your local media and find out what’s going on in the community!

In-Feed Featured in Local Paper

The June 9 edition of Lexington’s own North of Center newspaper features an article about local efforts to grow food where people live, from establishing neighborhood gardens to guerrilla gardening. In-Feed falls somewhere in between, focusing on the production potential of unused open space. Even very small spaces, such as mowing strips, can grow herbs and vegetables, and we’d like to see more folks making use of space in that way. If you’d like to try your hand at a different kind of urban infill, let us know!

2010 Seed Sale a Big Success

Thank you to all who came to the Maxwell Street Presbyterian Church for In-Feed’s second annual heirloom seed sale last month! With all the events going on around town, we were delighted that so many people made the time to stop by.

We want to extend our thanks to the following:

• Maxwell Street Presbyterian Church for hosting the sale
• Ryan Koch of Seedleaf and John Walker of the Edible Gardening Series/Urban Gleaning Network for helping answer questions about planting and growing
• The Rock/La Roca United Methodist Church for providing some of the seed
• Jodi and the kids at Kids’ Café for labeling seed packets
• Our tireless volunteers: Bob, Drew, Harley, Jennifer, Katelynn, and Michelle

Extra special thanks to these local businesses who sponsored the sale:

• Econoprint
• McGees Bakery
• Woodland Computers

If we’ve forgotten to mention anyone, please shoot us an e-mail so we can amend this post.  🙂

If you have any ideas or suggestions for next year’s sale, please post a comment and let us know.

A radish by any other name is just as…HOT

  In-Feed has been working with Aaron Mansfield at The Rock/La Roca United Methodist Church this summer. The folks there have put in a small garden around the basin that sits across the street from the church. Food grown there is used to support the Monday night meals they cook for the needy.  Along with Squash, Cucumbers and Beans, we put in some Rat-Tailed Radish. This quirky plant produces radish “pods” above ground on the stems of the plant. It owes it’s name to the long, tapering pods that grow from the flowers which bloom first. This is an heirloom plant, not so sought after as a Brandywine tomato, but important still. The Rat-Tailed Radish is a super magnet for bees and butterfies, which act as pollinators for flowering plants.

   These purple-green pods in their juvenile stage are edible, but are on the hot side. Combine the taste of  a green onion with a hot radish and you’re starting to get the picture. The pods are crisp and can be put in stir fry or cut up like chives into salads or as a garnish. They can be pickled as well. Eventually the seeds inside the pods will enlarge and the pod itself will become tough and chewy. Having grown this for the first time, 3 inches or so in length seems to be the desired size.

   So, if you’re the adventurous sort, or you just need something to attract pollinating insects, the Rat-Tailed Radish should be right up your alley. You can purchase seed from Seed Savers Exchange. If anyone has any further interest in this plant, let me know.