Organic Gardening Info from Peaceful Valley

I planted my chard last fall, and it is all going to seed. In the past it has lasted for two years, and gone to seed the second year. What is happening? Can I stop the process?

We wanted to thank Peaceful Valley for your generous seed donation to
People’s Grocery. This year we launched our two-tiered CSA box entitled
the GRUB BOX to serve families in West Oakland and the greater Bay Area.
We are currently working with over 75 families and the interest in the
program is continually growing. Thank you for your support in helping
enable marginalized communities of color equal access to affordable,
culturally appropriate foods.

Included are 3 pics:

1) a portion of our winter squash harvest

2) some bert and ernie eggplants

Thank you again,
maxwww.peoplesgrocery.org
www.youtube.com/peoplesgrocery

Everyone can be great because anyone can serve. You don’t have to have a
college degree to serve. You don’t even have to make your subject and your
verb agree to serve… You only need a heart full of grace. A soul
generated by love…
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Time and Place: Mid-September/ PVFS retail store

A mother-daughter team present me with a hand basket half full of seed packets. (Even if you want to see it as half empty, that is one heck of a lot of seeds!) The mom explains that she allowed her daughter (5 years old, I’d guess) to pick and chose freely. “She likes to see things sprout”, she explains.

I find myself envious of this child. My inner child finds these little packets enticing every time I restock the shelves or locate something specific for a customer. Renee’s Gardens, Horizon Herbs, Turtle Tree, and of course, Peaceful Valley’s own…the graphic promises, the creatively chosen names, the crop I would love to grow but know I’d be the only one to consume in my picky family.

Dang! What a fortunate child! I hope someday she thanks her mother for her indulgence. Maybe when she is a mother herself, she will realize how abundantly “over the top” her youthful garden was.

Before my father passed over ten years ago, I made him cry by just such a personal realization and a Father’s Day card. My seeds came in little baby food jars and were the generic farmer’s fair – simple seeds that sprout without much care or fanfare. But I wrote a card to tell him that “gift” had outlived any bicycle, stereo, college tuition or dress he had every bought me. I’m glad I realized early enough that I too was a fortunate child.