Corners of My World

A while ago I posted about the corners of my home, but as I was out walking the other day I realized that there are a lot of little corners that are special to me, some of them outside of the home. So I've set about to document them (after all, isn't that the whole point of writing a blog?).

This is a wall that I pass all the time on my way to the St. Bernard Community Garden. It's been decorated with chalk, and if any of you have ever used chalk on brick you know that it doesn't easily come off. I think I'll be appreciating this wall for a long time.



This is a vacant lot that I pass on my way to work in Camden. I'm not sure if those steel beams were present in the house before it was knocked down, or if they were put there afterward to help the surrounding buildings from following suit. Either way, I want to put a garden there really badly.

This is just a moment in time along the walk to the St. Bernard Community Garden.

My friend Nicole recently wrote a thought-provoking post on her blog, Blue Bicicletta, about appreciating each moment of the day with reverence. It's a word that doesn't get used that often, and it's really quite beautiful. To quote Nicole, "my pocket Webster’s dictionary defines reverence as: awe mingled with respect and esteem." I think we could all use a little bit more awe and respect in our lives. These little corners of my world allow me to be awed by the art of every day life, and to live that life a bit more purposefully, with reverence.

Starting

Back in February, when the snow was still covering the ground, we started growing plants for the community gardens in Camden.



We ordered plugs of vegetable starts from a company called Kube Pak, in Allentown, NJ. The veggies come in a dense sheet and we transplant them out into larger cell packs so they have some room to grow.



Some of them went out to the community gardens this month, including a few chive and leek starts that went out to my own gardens in Philly (check out my post on Farm to Philly).



I spent hours in the greenhouse with the plants, watering, smelling, and just being in there while the snow was covering everything outside.



Now my little guys are all grown up and in the ground. How time flies!

Camden Crops

I took a bunch of volunteers out in Camden last week to clean up our garden at 3rd and Beckett Street. A surprising number of crops survived the snow this winter, and we harvested several pounds of rutabagas and kohlrabi.



Unfortunately, when I took the kohlrabi home to cook, it was woody and hollow inside. I guess our little over-wintering experiment didn't quite pan out.



The green cabbage is still going strong, looking a little ratty, but edible (as soon as it heads up). The spinach survived, along with the mustard greens, though the latter is starting to bolt so we pulled it.



And of course, the kale. Good old reliable.