Judy's Garden of Hope, Valley NS

Judy's Garden of Hope, Valley NS Community Outreach project of Valley-Greenfield United Church, Valley, NS. A wonderful place to visit and sit with nature

All produce grown is given to the Colchester Food Bank to give hope to those in our community who are experiencing food insecurity.

Yesterday I welcomed 16 students (and 3 adults) from Redcliff Middle School, part of Cathy Robinson's Gardening Explorat...
10/23/2025

Yesterday I welcomed 16 students (and 3 adults) from Redcliff Middle School, part of Cathy Robinson's Gardening Exploratory group. It was all about seeds. They collected seeds. We shared knowledge about how seeds are distributed. Annuals and biannuals. We saw how important seeds are as food sources for humans and wildlife.
And we had a quick clean-up of some beds and learned how to layer greens and browns for composting.
Mrs Robinson's gardening group is getting very popular - we had at least 6 students who had been to the garden previously. Wonderful to see children involved in gardening. Grow on!

It's clean up time in the garden! Sunday saw us fixing the fencing and tightening everything up for the winter. It was g...
10/20/2025

It's clean up time in the garden! Sunday saw us fixing the fencing and tightening everything up for the winter. It was great to welcome Tim McG. to the crew! No pictures of them but Ursula, Julie and Pat H. helped to clean up beds too.

The last of the harvest, although the kale and swiss chard will keep going and going and going.... The green peppers g...
10/12/2025

The last of the harvest, although the kale and swiss chard will keep going and going and going....

The green peppers grew and thrived in the cooler temps and under a frost blanket. There were alot of butternut squash - prob about 40 lbs. These and the last of the indoor ripened tomatoes made their way to the Portipique free market on Sat.

Somehow, the gate was found unlatched and we had a young visitor who munched on strawberry leaves and a few other leftovers. It walked in a couple of the beds but carefully avoided the kale stalks! 🫣 Deer do not like kale!! 🤣🤣

I had a fun visit this morning. A group of grade 7 students from Redcliff Middle School ( and teacher Cathy Robinson) wa...
09/26/2025

I had a fun visit this morning. A group of grade 7 students from Redcliff Middle School ( and teacher Cathy Robinson) wanted to come to Judy's Garden of Hope and interview me and film the garden. They are working on a project about local food production and making a short film to enter the Nourish Nova Scotia contest.
Good luck!!

The garden harvest is almost done! Today my helper, Pat and I harvested the rest of the grapes ( a full bin!) Which i am...
09/24/2025

The garden harvest is almost done! Today my helper, Pat and I harvested the rest of the grapes ( a full bin!) Which i am juicing while preping the second half of the bin. We also cut the last of the kale and picked all the red tomatoes. Picking the green ones that are left are for tomorrow. But the best part was checking out the potatoes! The frost had hit the potatoe plants on Sun. so it was time to see how or if they grew new potatoes. The seed potatoes (from Cochrane Family Farm) grew really well but no time to blossom. Pat and I were astounded to see how many potatoes there were! We filled the bin to overflowing. Except for the grapes, today's harvest will be heading to Maggie's Place for their cooking programs

Look what I found in the garden! A small toad in a bucket! And a Monarch butterfly resting in the squash patch. I am not...
09/18/2025

Look what I found in the garden! A small toad in a bucket! And a Monarch butterfly resting in the squash patch. I am not sure where it came from as we didnt have any catepillars on the milkweed this year. Maybe it was just resting up before heading to Mexico. 🦋
This is not a critter, but the turtlehead plant is still blooming!

Lettuce and kale for Colchester Food Network and Maggie's Place cooking program.
09/18/2025

Lettuce and kale for Colchester Food Network and Maggie's Place cooking program.

Another good harvest with my friend Marcella, with produce going to the Colchester Food Network and to Maggie's Place. D...
09/16/2025

Another good harvest with my friend Marcella, with produce going to the Colchester Food Network and to Maggie's Place.

Did you know that after harvesting, produce needs to be cooled down to get rid of the vital heat within the plant, produced by the photosynthesis process? We do this by spraying leafy greens with cold water or leaving them in cool shady areas or coolers. Dont spray the beans or tomatoes!

We are still hauling water because it still has not rained enough to add any amount to our barrels.

The first cutting of grapes have been juiced and are ready for jelly making! Lots more to fully ripen.

Despite the drought our flowers are struggling to keep looking pretty. We dont water them.The butternut squash are very ...
09/08/2025

Despite the drought our flowers are struggling to keep looking pretty. We dont water them.
The butternut squash are very heat sensitive but they always perk up when watered. The grape harvest will be huge this year once they ripen. The potatoes are still growing but no blossoms yet.The bees are loving the mint blossoms.
We try to harvest in the evening but it gets dark so quickly now!

The harvest continues.
09/08/2025

The harvest continues.

What a change a week can make especially with a little rain and cooler temperatures. Finally, more harvest of swiss char...
08/21/2025

What a change a week can make especially with a little rain and cooler temperatures. Finally, more harvest of swiss chard, beets, tomatoes, peas and beans. That's 19 lbs.

Last week we had to cancel all programming on Tues. and Wed. because of the extreme heat. But we made up for it today wi...
08/19/2025

Last week we had to cancel all programming on Tues. and Wed. because of the extreme heat. But we made up for it today with our SchoolPlus group.
The children had a great time. They had a scavenger hunt to find out what plants need to grow. A couple played a "snakes & ladder" game for farmers (from Cdn Foodgrains Bank). We gave the rhubarb patch some TLC with fertilizer and manure compost and covered it with leaves. They weeded, picked peas, beans and tomatoes, looked for catapillars and grasshoppers and finished up with a fun time crafting garden creatures. What imaginations! A visit from dogs Harper and Stella was a big attraction!
We are going to miss the SchoolsPlus gang as this was their last day at the garden. They certainly learn alot about growing veggies. A big Thank You! to the Teachers who bring the children - Cathy Robinson, Tammy Reid, Zabrina and Justine. You all rock!!

Address

308 Salmon River Rd, Valley NS
Truro, NS
B6L 2V4

Telephone

+19028141162

Website

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