Garden of Hope
On Saturday, September 18th, seventeen volunteers harvested 183.5 lbs of squash, peppers, tomatoes, and pumpkins. Volunteers joined us from the parish, Marymount University, Junior League of Northern Virgina, Friends of Urban Agriculture and others, and included Jen, Nate, Bas, Susanna, Ella, Lauren, Caroline, Sofia, Lauren, Felicia, Shelby, Katy, Alex, Sade, Steve, Dave, and Doris . The produce was delivered to Rock Spring Congregational Church on Monday for further distribution to the food banks. As the season winds down, the butternut squash has weaved its way through the garden. We are looking forward to a large fall harvest of squash.
To date, the garden has produced for donation, 2,933.5 lbs of fresh organic vegetables for local food banks.
The Garden of Hope at St. Andrew’s is doing really well but volunteers are needed. We have room for 20 volunteers during our Saturday morning workdays. Tomato and pepper picking season is upon us. This is our busiest picking time. Volunteers are also needed on Tuesdays and Thursdays to water the garden. Watering is easy, simply turn on the two hose bibs (water sources in garden) and then turn them off about two hours later … consider going for a cold beverage in between! Or additional weeding is always appreciated.
We begin work every Saturday at 9 a.m. If the weather is bad, we reschedule for the next day, Sunday, at 11:30 a.m.
If you have an interest in volunteering in the Garden of Hope, please sign-up through Sign Up Genius. More about volunteering:
- Bring your own gardening gloves — and your favorite weeding tool if you have one.
- Other general materials you should bring as needed: a water bottle, sunscreen, sun protection (e.g. hat, sunglasses, etc.)
- Questions? Please email Emily Blecksmith, Parish Administrator.
We look forward to seeing you!
Need help finding the garden? Download a PDF map of St. Andrew’s grounds.
