Lynchburg Grows

The Blackwater Rollers were at The Grows on Saturday for our monthly open house. The team is donating proceeds from their next match to LG. You need to come check it out! (photo by Susan Wood)

Lynchburg Grows was lookin tough on Saturday with a little help (alright, a lot of help) from the sauciest four-wheelers in Virginia. I’m writing, of course, about the Blackwater Rollers, greater Lynchburg’s only roller derby team and one of Lynchburg Grows’ newest partners in reaching out to disabled individuals and at-risk youth through gardening. A contingent of Blackwater’s finest showed up for our First Saturday open house last weekend, passed out fliers about their upcoming match (Saturday, August 28) and, in general, made a bunch of misfit farmers look a ton cooler. (You may have seen “The Beccanator” skating up and down on Fort Avenue on Saturday morning.) Blackwater (as generous as they are gritty) is donating a portion of their August 28 ticket sales to Lynchburg Grows. Here’s the skinny: Blackwater Rollers – Aug 28th (Sat.) AJ’s Skateworld, 460 Old Courthouse Rd., Appomattox, Va. 24522. 6:30pm. Bring it!  – Aaron Lee

Volunteers with Student Life painted the farm house last week. (Photo by Aaron Lee)

Been a while since I made a stop here at the LG Blog. In that time we’ve sweated through managing the couple-of-thousand bell pepper plants we put down at the beginning of June. On another note, we’ve cut more than 2,000 roses for sale and donation. We’ve also beefed up the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares to bring fresh local veggies (from LG and other area farmers we’re working with) to our members each week. (Plug time: Weekly half shares are $15 and full-shares of the CSA are $30 … there is still time to sign up). Anyway, through the Hades heat we’ve persevered. Also, little more than a week ago we hosted roughly 75 teenage volunteers (in association with Student Life) that were in town for a conference at Liberty University that includes a service component. They spent their time painting Greenhouse #7 (the center of our capital campaign that recently wrapped up successfully), our farm house, the cistern and the root cellar – all of which were desperate for some paint. The kids cqme from church groups in North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. On a final note: We have a First Saturday Open House coming up on August 7. -Aaron Lee

Scene from first Volunteer Night at The Grows. (photo by Kim Raff)

We started Volunteer Night at The Grows two Wednesdays ago and what a success thus far. The first week there were 10 of us planting the back field with bell peppers that are destined for sale to Appalachian Harvest later this summer. In two hours that evening we planted roughly 3,000 pepper plants. This week we were back in the field doing some weeding. The focus of Volunteer Night will change from week to week, but the day and time – Wednesdays from 6 to 8 p.m. -  stays the same all summer. Hope to see you soon. – Aaron Lee

Washing machine re-purposed as a lettuce spinner. Patrick in the red, Micha in the background. (photo by Aaron Lee)

No more hand-cranked lettuce spinners because Micha had an extra washing machine and donated it to The Grows. First thing he did was clean it and then took out the agitator and then cleaned it again. Yesterday was the test drive and it worked like a pro. And it didn’t chew the lettuce up. To the contrary, we think it fluffed it more than the old pain-in-the-past way we used to do it. Check back here soon to see what happened to the extra dryer. – Aaron Lee

The Captain: Lynchburg Grows' mascot of record and Aquaponics overseer. (photo by Aaron Lee)

As many know, our Capital Campaign needs to raise $100,000 by June 30 in order to receive a $50,000 challenge grant from a local foundation. With that $150,000 we can begin earnest work on rehabbing to re-use Greenhouse #7 as a place where aquaponics (the combination of hydroponics and fish farming) will thrive. And we still need help meeting that goal. We have already raised $60,000 towards our $100,000 goal. With Greenhouse #7 re-purposed, we can raise fishes and vegetables, simultaneously, for local consumption. On a side note, Micha and I have been scraping and scrapping money – literally scrapping used metal – for the last couple of months trying to raise enough loot to attend a conference in June that will broaden our knowledge of aquaponics. Now, we can’t help the fact that one of the leaders in the aquaponics movement is the University of the Virgin Islands at St. Croix. So, we have to sacrifice and pony-up the money to attend (I know you’re thinking, “Poor fellas!”). Regardless, we are now in a tight spot (Of the $2,200 we need to raise, we’re about $1,100 short, at this point, May 18). So, we’re asking, if you stop by The Grows in the next couple of weeks that you please make a $1 contribution to our trip. Help make our smiling faces “perma-grins.” Look for the sign that says “Fish Food Campaign.” – Aaron Lee

Governor's School art Spring 2010 #5

On a cold day in January, Micha and I drove over to the Central Virginia Governor’s School where students were in the midst of decoupaging garden-art scenes. In the end, there are five ready-to-hang pieces that, among others, depicts sunflower scenes and veggies and what in one appears to be a Phoenix in flight over a pepper vine. The pieces were delivered to The Grows last week and questions about their destiny have abounded from new and regular farm visitors, alike. Well, for now they will hang in the Packing Shed at LG. However, each piece is posted on the LG Web site and you can place your bids with the email address listed. The reserve on each is $100. This is a silent auction and you will be notified if your bid was high enough to beat out any other competitors, and if it gets beat out we’ll drop you a line and let you know. Bids may only be placed at LG, or through the Web site. On July 3, during our monthly First Saturday at the Farm, we will announce (and notify if you aren’t here) the winners. All proceeds go to support Lynchburg Grows. Come by and check out this wonderful art for yourself. – Aaron Lee

Micha seen here crashed onto the tractor bucket last summer. We promise we won't work you this hard on Volunteer Night. (photo by Kim Raff)

Starting May 26, we will be staying late at the farm on Wednesday evenings to host a “Volunteer Night Out.” We hear from many people who want to volunteer with The Grows, but who understandably have a life and a job, that this might be a good time to come out and get digits dirty as the sun drops. Volunteer Night Out will run from 6 to 8 p.m. You can expect to find yourself doing everything from pulling weeds to mowing grass to picking peppers to stripping thorns off roses to helping Woody feed the worms. For more info, contact us here. – Aaron Lee

Lazer rose growing strong in Greenhouse #3. Lynchburg Grows will be selling cut roses for the rest of the season for $10 a dozen. (photo by Kim Raff)

Last Saturday, Micha and I set up at the Lynchburg Community Market with about 500+ roses and we sold all but about two dozen. Granted, it was the day before Mother’s Day, but for us it was a payoff for all those long hours trying to beat back the close to 1,000 rose bushes that are salvageable in Greenhouse #3 and #9. The staff and volunteer sweat that reclaimed #9 alone, is incredible. Literally, hundreds of hours. I know the real joy for both of us, and the rest of the LG staff is that since the roses started blooming in early April, we’ve managed to give away more than 1,000 stems to local nursing and retirement homes as well as put them in the hands of other non-profits in Lynchburg. We were at the Odd Fellows home last Friday and there were a couple of ladies sitting out on the patio. We put roses in their hands, randomly. When they each smiled, it felt great to say, “We grew those.”  – Aaron Lee

Lynchburg Grows staffer Theresa O'Dell

Theresa O’Dell put her hands in the dirt at Lynhcburg Grows for the first time in spring 2006. Having started out as a volunteer, she ended up doing what many volunteers are asked to do when they show up to the farm for the first time.

“Pulling weeds,” O’Dell said.

O’Dell, who has a Bachelor’s in art and art education from Radford University and an Associates in Sign Language from new River Community College, still (like everyone at LG) pulls weeds, but now also helps care for LG’s animals and make the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program a success.

She has used both her creative side and sign language skills to both beautify The Grows and make it a more-inclusive place to visit. A fan of American painter John Singer Sargent, she, a West Virginia native, works in pastel pencils.

“I like green,” she said of her favorite color. “It means you’re making growth in your life,” she said. In her free time, she is also a jewelry maker and is a singer in the Holy Cross church choir.

“I’ve always been singing, I’ve been in choirs since I was 13,” O’Dell (an alto) said.

Just as long, she’s been working in gardens with her family.

“When I was younger, I had a garden,” she said. “I grew spinach one time but I really didn’t know what to do with it, I just picked the leaves off and ate them … we didn’t really make a salad out of them.”

She said she’d also like to learn more about growing the historic Schenkel roses that are currently in full bloom here at the farm. And perhaps plant a successful pumpkin patch this year after two years of trying.

She also a determined gardener, trying for two years to get pumpkins to grow in her mother’s garden.

“I like to grow flowers,” she said. “And we try to grow pumpkins but the deer always eat it … or something always eats it.”

We have roses and you want them. (photo by Kim Raff)

Roses are here! We cut those overgrown plants back in mid-February and under the watchful eye of Mr. Schenkel (the guy who ran a rose growing operation on our property for more than 40 years) all of Greenhouse #3 is beginning its bloom. And we’ve also got Greenhouse #9 beat back to the point where it’s going to be producing, too. We were at the Lynchburg Community Market last weekend and it was nice to see the rubbernecking that went on as folks passed by the roses adorning our stall. We’re gonna be at the market again this Saturday. Look for us. Also, we’ll have roses for sale at the farm (M-F, 9 to 5). By the way, you should probably consider giving the gift of “local” this Mother’s Day. Stop by and place your order. – Aaron Lee