Daily Blog

Fri Oct  18, 2024

A lot has happened over the past 2 months.  After maintaining the Garden, earlier this month both Grade 4 classes went out to harvest the potatoes.  This was followed up by a very eager Grade 1 class who boxed up an unbelievable number of potatoes, and stored the boxes in Fr. Alfie's garage!

Finally,  earlier today twelve boxes of our Russett potatoes were delivered to both Camosun College's and UVic's Student Society Foodbanks.  I met Christine Durocher, from the CCSS, and Ayisha (right) and Rowan (left), student volunteers with the UVSS.  They were indeed appreciative of our donations!  And on Monday, the island chapter of St Vincent de Paul will be picking up their share of the potatoes - in addition to the tremendous amount of food donated for the school's World Food Day Collection.  

Thanks - ngiyabonga kakhulu - to everyone involved!

Spring 2022

After 7 years of growing potatoes, it was obvious that our soil was getting, well, ... tired.  Last year's harvest brought in just over 600 lbs total, whereas usually we harvest at least 1500 lbs. So it was decided to let the Masithuthu Garden rest from having the school trod over the property. 

Still the Garden has been good to us over the years.  Since we began planting, we have raised over 6 tons of potatoes - thats 12,000 pounds.  To give you a visual, the next time you pass a dump truck hauling a trailer - that's how many potatoes we have grown! 

See you next spring!

Fri Sep 17, 2021

There is nothing like beginning the school year harvesting the potatoes out front in the Masithuthu Garden.  Excitement and .... were certainly in the air!  Students, renewing and making new aquaintances, spent time outside in the fresh air in their "gardening clothes" actively searching for potatoes of all sizes.  Every potato plant uprooted was quickly followed by a scream of "JACKPOT!" as if to let the whole crowd know that more potatoes were found. 

Father Alfie and some ardent supporters came out for this wonderful event.  We even had Mr. Pollard dressed in his Civvies (but sadly, his picture was not taken). The weight totals are in - just about 400 pounds.  

Wed Aug 11

SIYABONGA KAKHULU!!!

Well, the plants are on their last legs, and now is the time to let the potatoes "cure" in the ground.  The hoses are still present, but the automatic timers for the sprinklers have been removed.  We even had someone graciously remove our pile of weeds!

With the top of the plant withered and dead, though, there is no rush to get the potatoes out of the ground.  The crop will "cure":  the potato skins will  harden in the soil over the next few weeks.  Then a reduced number of students will spend a morning harvesting them, usually by mid-September.  

For all those students, parents  and helpful who volunteered with us this summer, Thank you very much!  Your gestures of hard and patient work will hopefully bear much fruit as we prepare to present this year's crop to The Soup Kitchen and SVdP over the next few months.  We know that our God wRead our school Newsletter or Parish bulletin for an announcement about the size of this year's harvest.  We are always surprised with our results!

DID YOU HELP US THIS YEAR?

Lastly, please make sure that we know you were here.  Check the calendar page (https://signup.com/go/AekRiZq), send me a text (250-391-1280), or an email (sjvmasithuthugarden@gmail.com).   It matters not the time or times that you were here - every weed that was picked by you, was one fewer picked by us.  Your pulling of weeds,  your awesome gaze at a bee on a sunflower, your absolute delight in watching the potatoes grow, even your fraternal sharing with others while here, were all simple expressions of Love.  St. Theresa of Liseaux would be especially proud!  They were an absolute joy to witness.  And for this, we thank you.

Mon Aug 9  

The plants are definitely dying back, and the weeds are begininng to grow back with a vengeance.  Oh well... but at least they will not be watered by the garden faucets:)

Along the parking lot side, and located inside the fence, we have some sunflowers interspersed amongst some pumpkins.  Ideally, it was our intention to have the pumpkins produce fruit cascading down the slope to the parking lot.  In my minds eye, it looked great!  But in all practicality, it looks a little like slim pickens.  We actually grew 3 varieties of pumpkins, with only 1 type (facing Fr. Alfie's) growing with any enthusiasm.  Should be interesting to see how big they get!

On the outside of the fence line (facing Fr. Alfie's), Grade 3-Z planted sunflowers for their Mothers Day activity.  Unfortunately, they are not growing with the same gusto...  sorry moms...

Mon Aug 2 Happy BC Day!  

Hmmm...  some other hungry critter may be in our garden... 

This morning I noticed some tops nipped off, as if someone strolled by and ate a little of this plant, and a little of that plant... Interesting.  I soon discovered proof: deer scat!  Although the deer apparently don't eat potato leaves, they will eat them if there is nothing else around.  But they will prefer the flowers!

On another note, I've also attached some newer and better pics of the potato plants slumped over.  The plants have definitely started to naturally die off, and the only thing that we can do is to ensure there are no visible potatoes. By mid- week, we will probably turn off the irrigation to allow the growing tubers (aka, "potatoes") to cure and harden their skin while in the soil.  The potatoes will harvested in mid-September.

Our pumpkins are continuing to grow slowly along the fence lines.  Continue to encourage any runners back through the fence line and produce on the slope to the parking lot.  The plants will continue to grow right through September.  They prefer to be watered deeply at the plant base, not on the leaves.   Otherwise, the leaves may wilt and die off prematurely.

Fri Jul 30

Very warm here under the direct sun. Let's pray for rain, and the folks involved with the Masithuthukisane Community Organization in Pinetree, South Africa.  Very many there (in KwaZulu Natal province) are still awaiting the arrival of vaccines, and the folks are really hurting.  

Spent a little time chatting with Val, a parishioner, then back to the rows.  In spite of trying to support the plants, they still seem to fall over - oh well... I guess they are missing the weeds that held them up.

Thu July 29

Covering potatoes and constant weeding means tough slogging today, with a beautiful blue sky, a gentle breeze - and a bee who walked across my hand!  (If my other hand was free, I would have taken a picture.)  Then along came some company: Glen Palahicky , Principal of St. Andrew's High School, and Herv Kegalj, Music teacher. What a wonderful, wonderful day.  

Almost all the work done today was by the smaller, handheld trowels.  Remember to be gentle straightening up the plants, and supporting them as best you can by drawing up soil from the middle of the row.

Tue July 27

Now that the plants are beginning to die back, I'll probably not be at the garden as frequently as I have been.  My presence will probably decrease to a couple of mornings per week for "gardening duties", although I will still visit the garden almost daily.   I will still write these updates - so you will know what you can do, and update the pictures.  If you need, you can always text or email me with your question, and I will respond as soon as i can.  

You are still welcome to come help at your regular time.  For those who want to be sure that I'll be there, the safest bet is to check on the calendar link to find out which mornings I will be there for a sustained period of time. I will post the dates by Sunday evening for the following week. 

Hope to see you there:)

Mon July 26

Our potato plants look wonderful, yet top heavy, and many unsupported plants appearing to just bend over at the surface. This has been natural.  You might also think that the yellow-brown colourization is a result  of them being unsupported.  Not so - now is the natural time that the plants are slowly beginning to die off.

So What Do We Do?

1.  Traverse carefully between the rows; even though you can add some soil to support the plants, you will be unable to make them stand vertically.  Investigate each plant and, using a hand trowel, being sure to cover any visible potatoes with loose soil.

2.  Tread carefully along the rows.  You can safely assume that many of the empty spots in the rows have been re-seeded in the past 2 weeks.  While some of the mature plants appear to be dieing off (which is natural), the recently seeded areas are just beginning to show some growth.  We can build up the base of this new plants with loose soil to encourage growth.

A gentle reminder that the bees are here for the sunflowers - and not us (although they may treat us with some curiousity.). Gently blowing to re-direct their focus is your best course of action.  For your own safety, if you do have allergies to bee stings - please have your Epipen with you at all times.  We have never had an instance of a sting in the past 6 years.

Wed July 21

THE BEES ARE HERE - THE BEES ARE HERE!!!

Now that the sunflowers are beginning to open, the bees are starting to come around with more regularity.  They are so interesting to  observe and an absolute pleasure to watch.  But don't be alarmed:  wear dull coloured tshirts if you don't want them around you.  Just blow gently on them to encourage them to look elsewhere.

The tops of many potato plants are slung over, having previously been held up and supported by the weeds.  We will continue to support them as best we can.  Continue working with the hand-held trowel.  Potato seeds may be replanted in many of our gaps, so please watch your step:)

There was further evidence of suspicious looking characters this morning - 2 males and a female... managed to encourage them to politely  "go on their way";  Father Alfie and Patty were protecting their own  turf as well - but my phone went dead before I could get a photo of them.

Mon July 19

We truly appreciate everyone who has come out to assist with the garden thus far:  SANIBONAI! (or thank you in Zulu!)

With the vast majority of the weeds removed, we will continue to build up the base of the plants with soil to support the stalks and cover the potatoes.  It'll be slow going, but necessary.  Use the hand trowels (found inside the black box) for this activity, when working around the base of the plant.  This will ensure the growing potatoes wont be disturbed any more than necessary.