15 July 2009

harvesting tomatoes and hope

I'm growing tomatoes! Two different kinds. This is very exciting.

The even more exciting part is that my tomatoes are growing in a Harvesting Hope container garden. Harvesting Hope is an awesome service project my mom started with help from some of her Obama campaigning buddies. Obama asked them to serve and let me tell you, she has stepped up.

They've made about 100 of these container gardens (made from donated used restaurant buckets, organic soil, seedlings from a local sustainable farmer, and a lot of hard work) and are giving them to people in the community who might not otherwise have the means to grow and eat fresh veggies.

My meager contribution to the project has been designing a logo and starting a blog for the project. So Mom shipped me a container of my very own to set up on my front stoop. The blog has some great info (such as how they built the buckets) as well as some lovely photos of the garden recipients.

And these buckets work amazingly well. My tomato is growing like mad. The system is ingenious. It has a water reservoir in the bottom that you fill through a tube and funnel at the top. Being a closed system, it maintains a consistent moisture level and none of the nutrients drain off when watering. My mom and brother did a ton of research and experimentation as they designed the containers, and the result is just amazing. So smart.

I am incredibly proud of my Mom and brother. They have worked so hard, given so much of their time and energy for this cause. I am in awe.

And here is my very first harvest. Three little grape tomatoes. Sweet.

5 comments:

Julieree's bro said...

Very nice, sis! My plants are healthy and productive too, but the squirrels just discovered how much they like almost-ripe tomatoes. Have repatriated fourteen of the little bastards across College Creek, a fate better than what they deserve. :)

Delaney Mae said...

Julie, I'm coming out of lurking (found you linked from my friend Teresa, the Green Bag Lady!) to say just how darned cool this is! I was just watching Obama's interview before the All Star game, and he's focusing on this service message, and then I read about your Mom getting inspired and it makes me doubly so. Thanks for sharing!

shim + sons said...

Julie, I love the logo you designed. You + your mother are quite inspiring!

Anna said...

Those grapey tomatoes look so happy peeking out your window!

Anonymous said...

what am amazing story! Keep us posted on your progress!