COOL HANDS

10/14/2026

10/14/2026

Final week to sign up! See details below.

10/14/2026

It may be fall, but, according to Nat Bradford, watermelon season isn't quite over yet.

Bradford Watermelon Farm is back in season and will be available for purchase starting Monday, Oct. 12.

For the first time in four years, the public will be able to purchase the melons along with other crops at Bradford family farm. Back in 2023, Bradford started his crop over from scratch with seeds that his grandfather saved in 1990.

Read more about these watermelons (and what makes them stand out) in print and online--link below⬇️

✍️ Marshall Wright / The Sumter Item
📸 Abigail Pittman / The Sumter Item

10/10/2026

🌧 Today's rain couldn't stop our garden flow. The hay is neatly tucked and laid in the bed ready to preserve all the soils nutrients. 💧

And, our little friend greetings us this morning with a warm smile. 😊

10/09/2026

Sometimes the size of a problem can make us wonder whether one person can really make a difference.

We often think about the starfish story.

There are miles of beach. There are more starfish than one person could ever reach. But that doesn’t make helping one of them meaningless.

✨ It mattered to that one.

The same idea inspires our work at No Child Goes Hungry.

We may not be able to solve childhood hunger everywhere, all at once. But we can help stock one pantry. Support one backpack program. Fund one community project. Help one family put food on the table.

And for the child who gets the meal, the snack, or the groceries they needed, that act matters.

Never underestimate what can happen when one person sees a need and chooses to help.

Let’s feed some kids!

nochildgoeshungry.net

10/09/2026

10/05/2026

10/04/2026

Kale is a nutrient-dense leafy green vegetable belonging to the Brassica oleracea species, which also includes broccoli, cauliflower, and collard greens.

Types of Kale
• Curly Kale: The most common supermarket variety featuring bright-green, frilly leaves with a robust, peppery flavor.
• Lacinato (Dinosaur/Tuscan) Kale: Characterized by long, dark-green, bumpy, and narrow leaves with a slightly sweeter, more delicate taste.
• Russian Kale (Red Russian/Siberian): Features flat, fringed leaves ranging in color from green to reddish-purple with a mild, sweet-peppery flavor.

Nutritional Profile & Health Benefits
• Vitamins & Minerals: Exceptionally high in vitamins A, C, and K, as well as folate, calcium, potassium, and manganese.
• Antioxidants: Packed with carotenoids, polyphenols, and flavonoids that help neutralize cellular damage.
• Health Support: Supports heart health, lowers type 2 diabetes risk, promotes bone density via vitamin K, and provides lutein and zeaxanthin for eye health.

Culinary Preparation
• Raw: Raw kale has tough, fibrous leaves and a slightly bitter bite. To soften it for salads, massage the chopped leaves with a little olive oil, lemon juice, and salt for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Cooked: Excellent for sautéing, steaming, roasting into crispy chips, or tossing into soups and stews (such as Portuguese caldo verde or Tuscan ribollita). Remove the tough, fibrous central stems before cooking or chopping.

Growing & Harvesting
• Climate & Soil: Thrives in well-drained, fertile soil with a pH between 6.0 and 7.5. It is exceptionally hardy and frost-tolerant.
• Flavor enhancement: Leaves harvested after a frost taste sweeter because the plant produces extra sugars to protect itself from freezing.
• Harvesting method: Pick the large, outer leaves first to encourage the center of the plant to keep producing new growth.