gardening 9 - 5

zinnias in the SNAP garden

oh, let me just mention now - this post doesn't include any gardening tricks i might have up my sleeve or any helpful information at all, really. & i'm so sorry about that! i'm just here today to share a little piece of my gardening story. 

we don't have a garden in our backyard yet. or our front yard. we don't even have salad greens growing in a pot on the porch. truthfully, for the longest time i really didn't know what to write here to explain my behavior & procrastination with our garden. we have big dreams - a beehive, ducks!, double digging (i'll share more soon!) - but ground has yet to be broken & seeds planted. i felt a bit discouraged with this season until i realized i am gardening... for work! for nearly two months, i have been working as an americorps vista for a nonprofit organization, NCAT. are you familiar? 

zinnias in the SNAP garden

part of my work includes maintaining two gardens. one of the gardens is a community SNAP garden where people receiving food stamps can plant their seeds or edible plants purchased with their SNAP benefits. we provide education & tools to promote future food! in addition to the SNAP garden, i am also working at the head start preschool garden. we are encouraging healthy eating & healthy habits by growing fresh food with kiddos. we're planting carrots on friday!

summer sunflowers in the SNAP garden

saving heirloom okra seeds in the SNAP garden



below are a few moments in the SNAP garden as i harvest from the summer bounty & prepare for fall:

i am so thankful to be part of building community through the act of growing food! the backyard can wait - we're growing food together. thanks for reading, friends.