HOPE Outreach Food Bank Garden

04/23/2026

We have not forgotten about you, Dear People! It's Feast or Famine time here in the Hope Garden. Either we're ridiculously busy... or we're taking much-needed breaks for one reason or another... 🤗

Mostly our weekly routine is Same Old/Same Old: growing, harvesting, and donating to the Riverland Community Pantry. It's good. It's all good.

Recently, I am out of town three weeks in a row (sister visit in Atlanta/festival in Tallahassee/wedding on Siesta Key)... plus our greens always dwindle toward the end of Spring/beginning of Summer (at which point we plant cover crops to revitalize the soil in anticipation of Fall). Mother Nature is a finely-oiled machinery, in the most organic sense of the word.

Will do my best to keep everyone posted. Come visit us one of these Fridays (beginning again on May 8... 🌱🪴🌿)

03/15/2026

Except it's not just my own two hands; it takes a Village to keep the Grow/Harvest/Donate cycle going from one Friday to the next, year-round... and we are grateful to the team of volunteers (past, present, and future) who show up and Get. It. Done. Sharing the gratitude are our recipients who stop by the pantry and appreciate the fruits (tomatoes are a fruit, you know!) and greens of our labor. Here's/cheers to helping alleviate food scarcity... 🤗

As Joe said Friday morning: "The weather must have been paying attention to our timeline" because, just as we were wrapping up in the garden, it started sprinkling. Perfect timing!

The overcast sky was a perk as Jessica and Robin planted and harvested greens... Joe picked tomatoes and planted radishes... and I packaged 7 bags of mixed greens, 3 bags of arugula only (from Robin's garden), 10 containers of tomatoes, all of which I dropped off at the Riverland Community riverland community pantry.

We need this rain... 🌧

02/18/2026

Garden Day: Friday, February 13

Can you spot the hoops that Jessica used to drape sheets over to protect our crops the weekend temps dropped to 30 degrees? Yikes!

You can also see four small bird/butterfly/bee baths I purchased to quench our pollinators' thirst... 🐦🦋🐝

Jessica, Robin, and I harvested, and I delivered eleven bags of greens (including ripe mini-tomatoes and some radishes) and 5 small containers of assorted herbs to the Riverland Community Pantry Friday morning... 🤗

I am in awe of our tea harvest: chamomile, butterfly pea flower, marigold, lemongrass, calendula... which Jessica is beautifully caretaking. It's going to make such a gorgeous (and yummy) blend when we combine... 🌼🌸 🏵

01/27/2026

Friday, January 23: Sweet day at the Hope Garden; Jessica and I divided, collaborated, and conquered... putting together 10 one-gallon Ziploc bags of assorted greens!

We planted 2 each of mustard greens, curly kale, collard greens, and bok choy (purchased Thursday from BOGO sale at Tree Amigos).

Claire gave us two large pots a few days ago: butterfly pea flower and lippia alba (both wonderful to add to our proposed tea blend). We also have a plethora of chamomile blooming... 🌼🌼🌼

The radishes we planted were a disappointment, but there are *beaucoups* of small green tomatoes, threatening to turn red at any time... 💥

And we have at least two bunches of bananas in the Circle, waiting patiently to ripen!

01/23/2026

Thanks for posting this, Jessica!

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01/10/2026

Oh, our hearts are so full! Yesterday, in addition to regulars Jessica, Robin, and myself... we had even more help with Christina and her two girls (Azaria 7 and Eliana 3)... and Aileen, her 16-month-old daughter Naya, and A's mom Linda. The littles were engaged too, tearing up packing paper as browns for our compost bin. Such joy, balancing work and happy chatter from adults and kiddos alike. I'm still smiling... 😁

Then on to riverland community pantry to drop off 15 containers of greens. Teajay was in the yard, so we had a chance to chat for a while. Mutual Gratitude Society... 💖

01/06/2026

Happy New Year! I've admittedly (and regrettably) been less than diligent (major understatement) about keeping you all posted on the happenings of the Hope Garden 3.0 (from Marando Farms to Daystar and now in West Davie in the backyard of Jessica's in-laws).

We are so grateful for the new location (dependable water source, joyful volunteers, peaceful environment) and, despite the fact the brutally-hot summer kicked our *sses, our Fall Planting in early-November has been quite successful, and the grow/harvest/donate cycle is up-and-running again!

Garden Day is now every Friday from 9-11 a.m. DM me for the address (since it's a private home). Let's continue to be a positive force to help eliminate food scarcity in 2026... 🍅🥬🫜

Weekly updates from now on, I promise... 🌞

04/30/2025

Great day in the Hope Garden, breezy and not too hot... ☀️

Jessica and Robin reassembled the raised bed from Daystar, then Jessica and I filled it with logs and boxes, and shoveled in whatever soil was in the wheelbarrows; we will buy more soil from Tree Amigos, add it next Wednesday, along with some soil amendments.

Jessica rediscovered the lemongrass we planted a few months ago, and we put concrete blocks around for protection.

We then harvested 10 bags of kale, dandelion greens, tomatoes, peppers, dill, cilantro, thyme, mint, basil.

I drove to our usual drop-off which, strangely enough, was locked! (I found out later she had an appointment). Googled food pantry near me and found We Are One Food Bank, a mile or two away. They distribute one Wednesday a month (so we'll now be looping them into our schedule... 💖) Synchronicity is that our name is on one of their flyers, so there must have been a connection in the past. Meant-to-be... 💥

04/15/2025

Oops! I seem to have been remiss with updates... which doesn't mean we haven't been working our patooties off in the Hope Garden... 💥

When last we left our SheRas, we were firmly entrenched in the new garden space in West Davie, had accomplished our late-Fall/early-Winter planting, and had established a routine of every-Wednesday harvest, alternating drop-off locations in Riverland as well as Pembroke Pines. Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy, right?

Two weeks ago, our crops let us know they were at the end of their cycle, so we harvested everything that was left (mostly arugula, dandelion greens, herbs, beans, tomatoes) into 10 bags of mixed greens, which I dropped off at the food pantry of Kindhearted Krew Ministry of Trinity Lutheran Church... 🥰

The following week, up to Tree Amigos Growers we skipped, buying new seedlings for a Spring Planting, which we put in the ground last Wednesday (with the assistance of Aileen, her darling baby Naya and her sweet mom Linda). Some new items in the assortment we can't wait to try; then we'll go back in a few weeks for bok choy and mini-tomatoes:

Asian Greens - Yukina Savoy
Escarole - Eliance
Eggplant, Japanese - Millionaire
Basil, Italian - Noga Prospera® Active DMR
Sorrel - French Green
Lettuce, Salanova - Red Batavia
Kale, Dino - Dazzling Blue
Parsley, Curly - Katinka
Lettuce, Bibb - Cegolaine
Dill - Thalia
Sissoo Spinach
(Seeds) Radish - French Breakfast

Also, thanks to Robin's kind donation of two types of fencing, she and Jessica rebuilt the structure on two sides... 🌞

02/19/2025

Today in the Hope Garden, we (and by we, I mean Jessica and Robin) planted two trees, an avocado and a guava!

We donated 10 lbs. of containers of mixed greens (bok choy/arugula/lettuce/dandelion greens/kale)... lettuces... cherry tomatoes... herbs (basil/cilantro/sage/dill)... roma tomatoes/peppers/scallions/beans).

Post-harvest photo.

Also, a pic of the stocked fridge at Riverland Community Pantry in Ft. Lauderdale, curated by Teajay, where we take our donations every other Wednesday (the alternating Wednedays go to The Kindhearted Krew at Trinity Lutheran Church... 💖)

P.S. we implemented Robin's scathingly brilliant idea of, rather than boxing the greens individually by type, having many Mixed Greens containers with a sampling of each... 💥

01/16/2025

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