Spring 2020 | Cultivating New Life at The Commons
As the world slows down and moves indoors, the Sweet Water team and community continue to GROW the neighborhood, cultivating new life and growth at The Commons. We are focused on preparing the farm and garden beds for the growing season to ensure a bountiful harvest of fresh and nutritious food for our community. With the help of hardworking volunteers, Sweet Water has already rebuilt and refreshed its 20 community garden beds and seeded more than 5,000 plants. Our team is working hard and more dedicated than ever to cultivating hope and life at The Commons.
Check out some of the steps the Sweet Water Team is taking this spring.
Farm and Garden Bed Prep: The Commons is home to the ~3-acre Sweet Water Community Farm, a 1-acre Residents’ Farm, 2 hoop houses, a 27 garden beds. The harvest from these sacred spaces are capable of feeding 1,000nd’s of local residents during the growing season. The team has begun preparing the farm by adding fresh soil to each row and wood chips in between rows. 27 garden beds were recently reconstructed and filled with fresh soil and the first wave of seedlings have been transplanted, protected by cold frames. The next step will be to transplant seedlings into every row and garden bed when the weather is consistently warmer.
Seeding: At the beginning of 2020, the team started seeding indoors - everything that grows on the farm starts as a tiny seed carefully planted indoors. Many of the seeds that were started in January are now seedlings that have been moved to the hoop houses or transplanted directly into the garden beds. The team will continue to seed both indoors and directly into the rows and garden beds when the weather warms up.
Transplanting: When the weather is consistently warmer, the SWF team will begin moving seedlings outside. Although transplanting causes minor root shock to a plant, they will begin to thrive on the farm and grow for the summer.
Cultivation and Care: As more and more plants come to life, the ecosystem surrounding The Commons changes drastically. On a daily basis, new plants, animals, and insects appear and engage in an integrated and regenerative, ecological dance: sunflowers, collard greens, kale, spinach, junebugs, native bees, monarch butterflies, coyotes, parakeets, red winged blackbirds, cardinals, and more are all essential parts of the ecosystem that come to life during the spring and summer.
As winter melts away and the new life of spring blooms, the Sweet Water team is honored to support the evolving ecosystem by caring for the Earth and environment.
