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As we kick off 2025, I wanted to recap a few open items from our 2024 Pantry Garden. If you recall, we still had radishes and spinach planted, both covered and uncovered, as well as parsley, cilantro, and oregano. We anticipated that we would be able to continue to harvest these items into December provided we had some good weather. Unfortunately, after the rain we had in November, we had extremely cold weather for about a week.
On Sunday, December 8th we had a very warm day, and I was able to spend a couple of hours in the garden. I took down our WCHI Pantry Garden sign, emptied the water barrels, and drained the water tank. The hose had some frozen spots, so I laid it out in the sun to thaw and drain out. Unfortunately, when I checked the spinach and radishes, I found the spinach to have white spots and the radishes were limp and frozen. In addition, the oregano, cilantro, and parsley were frozen. As a result of losing the last of our crops, I used the remaining straw in the shed and mulched the rest of the open beds. Full disclosure, I was lazy and did not weed the beds before putting down the straw. I am writing this article on December 24th, and due to the recent snowfall, I will have to wait for a warm day to make my way down to the garden to put away our hose and to store the barrels in the shed. I found it interesting that our groundhog friend who resided under our shed has been noticeably absent from the garden. The piece of fence near the gate hinge was found to be pushed aside, thus allowing him to escape. This fence repair has taken top billing on our late winter/early spring work list. Hannah from The Seed Farm received our soil report from the Penn State extension and in her words, “The results look really good.” She said we will want to amend our soil with a balanced fertilizer to bring up the levels of phosphorus and potassium, but otherwise, the soil is great. Although we were unable to provide fresh vegetables from our Pantry Garden on our December distribution days, we were fortunate that Second Harvest had several items available for our guests. These included carrots, yams, onions, cabbage, pears, mangoes, pineapples, and apples. Most of these items arrived in bulk boxes or in 50 lb. bags, so our pantry volunteers down packed these into Wawa bags for grab-and-go distribution to guests. Each distribution had different items available, but all our guests had access to a nice selection of these nutritious foods. Did you know that during November and December the pantry received thousands of pounds of non-perishable food items that you, our local community, graciously donated? Every can or box donated makes a real difference to a food-insufficient households. If you follow our Facebook page, you have seen that we had no less than 16 schools, businesses, churches, housing communities, and civic organizations organize food drives for WCHI, plus we had additional, valuable donations received at the Re/Max Unlimited office at 1080 Schadt Avenue, Whitehall. Our volunteers picked up, unloaded, date checked, and sorted all the donations we received. All totaled, we received 4,425 pounds of non-perishable food items and toiletries. Our community is FABULOUS! Finally, I want to recognize the tireless efforts of our WCHI volunteers who make everything we do possible. I look forward to continuing to volunteer with all of you in 2025! Email our volunteer coordinator, Sylvia Lee, at [email protected] for more information on joining our AMAZING team. Happy New Year!
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