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Hello Friends of the Gainesville Organic Blueberry Farm!
Let me try to make this as clear as possible:
All adults who want to pick this year MUST HAVE 2009 PICKING CARDS
In order to pick blueberries you must already have your 2009 picking card or come by the farm barnyard gardens today (Friday), Saturday or Sunday between 9 and 11 to pledge to work your remaining hours, and receive your picking card. When you get it I will tell you how you can pick anytime during daylight hours. Please be out by sundown!
Please Bring:
Bags for berries
lots of drinking water
bug spray or long sleeves or both
If you would like to buy a watermelon or callaloo bring a few dollars or veggies to trade.
All the kids you can handle pick free!!!
PLEASE LEAVE PET FRIENDS AT HOME!
Wildlife recently spotted at the farm:
flying overhead: roseate spoonbills(2) flying in formation with 4 woodstorks!, eagles, swallow tailed kites, all kinds of hawks, osprey,birds of every feather!
bobcat, fox, family of Quail,rabbits, deer, waterfowl,alligator, turtles, otter sign and blooming native lotus on pond, berry fairies and blue faced elves!
So come and join the party!!! But dont get caught without your 2009 pickin card! After all, the berries are so much sweeter, when you know you are helping to save the farm, and give generations to come, the chance to pick too 
Thanks and stay cool!
xoxox
maureen
Popularity: 100% [?]
Hi Friends of the Gainesville Organic Blueberry Farm!
Hope everyone is doing GREAT! I went to the Mountains with my family this week and got back late last night to find a welcome party of mosquitoes! Yay!
We went to camp at the trailhead at Snowbird Creek in Western N.C. – near some of the most amazing waterfalls Ive ever seen in my life(and Ive seen a few!). We learned from a fellow hiker that the only population in the world, of synchronous ( lighting up all at once) fireflies, outside of Japan, was nearby at the Joyce Kilmer memorial forest (Biggest trees in the east!) so of course we went to see the show! Incredible! Magic! A Must See! Got sore and cold and wet, hiking and camping, and loved every minute of it!
We are back today but leaving again tomorrow for the weekend.
But today at 6 I will be by the gardens to issue picking cards to those who have worked all their hours already(the Super Friends!), and so those who have worked all their hours from last year (or didnt pick last year), can sign pledges to work their remaining hours for this year, and get picking cards. I wil tell you where the best berries are and how you can pick them while I am away.
Those of you who havent completed your hours from last year will have to finish them before you can pick – fair is fair! Be warned – pickers will be carded!
Next week we will be having work parties Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at 10am and 5pm. I will be by the barn with tools – you bring lots of water and long sleeves and gloves. Kids are welcome but as always please leave pet friends at home. Those with picking cards,or eligible to get picking cards(see above) can come by during those days between 10am and 10:30am, and between 5 and 5:30pm, and pick up your card and sign a pledge if need be, and I will tell you where the berries are, and how you can pick while we are not there.
Kenny has some beautiful and delicious yellow squash and zucchini, and maybe some peppers for sale and Mr Whiskey has calliloo and some watermelons, so bring a few dollars if you want to shop fresh produce from the farm(except for the watermelons – you’ll have to ask Mr. Whiskey Phillips where these were grown).
Hope to see you out at the farm!
maureen
Popularity: 24% [?]
Hi Friends of the Gainesville Organic Blueberry Farm!
Hope everyone is doing GREAT! I went to the Mountains with my family this week and got back late last night to find a welcome party of mosquitoes! Yay!
We went to camp at the trailhead at Snowbird Creek in Western N.C. – near some of the most amazing waterfalls Ive ever seen in my life(and Ive seen a few!). We learned from a fellow hiker that the only population in the world, of synchronous ( lighting up all at once) fireflies, outside of Japan, was nearby at the Joyce Kilmer memorial forest (Biggest trees in the east!) so of course we went to see the show! Incredible! Magic! A Must See! Got sore and cold and wet, hiking and camping, and loved every minute of it!
We are back today but leaving again tomorrow for the weekend.
But today at 6 I will be by the gardens to issue picking cards to those who have worked all their hours already(the Super Friends!), and so those who have worked all their hours from last year (or didnt pick last year), can sign pledges to work their remaining hours for this year, and get picking cards. I wil tell you where the best berries are and how you can pick them while I am away.
Those of you who havent completed your hours from last year will have to finish them before you can pick – fair is fair! Be warned – pickers will be carded!
Next week we will be having work parties Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at 10am and 5pm. I will be by the barn with tools – you bring lots of water and long sleeves and gloves. Kids are welcome but as always please leave pet friends at home. Those with picking cards,or eligible to get picking cards(see above) can come by during those days between 10am and 10:30am, and between 5 and 5:30pm, and pick up your card and sign a pledge if need be, and I will tell you where the berries are, and how you can pick while we are not there.
Kenny has some beautiful and delicious yellow squash and zucchini, and maybe some peppers for sale and Mr Whiskey has calliloo and some watermelons, so bring a few dollars if you want to shop fresh produce from the farm(except for the watermelons – you’ll have to ask Mr. Whiskey Phillips where these were grown).
Hope to see you out at the farm!
maureen
Popularity: 23% [?]
 Job well done. ges patch Thanks! Hello Friends of the Gainesville Organic Blueberry Farm!
We will be having work parties tomorrow and Tues morning and afternoon @ 10am and 5pm. I will be by the gardens with hand tools at 10 and 5 both days. Please bring water to drink, gloves and long sleeves. Kids are very welcome but please leave pet friends at home. We will be working out by the covered cart across the first foot bridge, cutting vines and trees out of the rows. If you dont know where this is, please arrive on time or you wont find us. If you come after 10:30 am or 5:30 pm the gate will be closed but not locked. Please close it behind you again when you come in, and join us in the rows!
As I mentioned in earlier emails, the berry crop was hit very hard by the late freeze in April and there wont be anything near the bounty we saw last year, but there are some patches where they are getting fat and juicy, and when you come out to help I will show you where these are. It wont be long before they are ripe, so c’mon out and help keep the berry bushes happy and healthy – it is an investment in a healthy and organic future for our community – and the work is hard but fun! It feels so good to see the progress we’ve made after a couple of hours in the rows and what a great way to sweat out the toxins in our bodies!
Lets honor the sacrifices of our soldiers and predescessors this Memorial Day by doing work that with any luck will benefit the ones after us for 7 generations to come!
And read on about how you can help with another great project that is spreading gardens all over Gainesville!
Hope to see you in the rows!
maureen
Popularity: 24% [?]
Due to the rain this week, we have to reschedule many of our GIFT Garden installations for next week! So we will be extra busy next week installing raised bed veggie gardens for low-income residents, a facility that provides services to disabled adults, and a local church that will be growing food to feed the homeless in our community. And we can’t provide this service without the gracious help of our wonderful volunteers! In these coming weeks, we need your help more than ever as we have lost almost all of the wonderful students who have been volunteering with us the past few months.
Below is a our schedule for the week of May 25-29, 2009
***As always, please e-mail me back to let me know if you can volunteer on one or more of following days so that I can provide you with more details, update our schedule of volunteers and let GIFT Gardens Coordinators (Lewis and/or Denise) know you will be coming.
~Monday, May 25, 2009
9:30 – Residential Garden Installation (Denise)
~Tuesday, May 26, 2009
9:30 – Garden Installation at Coworkers Inc, a facility that provides services to disabled adults (Denise)
1:00 – Residential Garden Installation (Lewis)
~Wednesday, May 27, 2009
9:30 – Construct raised beds at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, a church that will be growing food to feed the homeless (Denise) ***If anybody has an extra drill that we can use for this installation, please let me know!
2:30 – Residential Garden Installation (Lewis)
~Thursday, May 28, 2009
9:30 – Fundraising Garden Installation (Denise)
~Friday, May 29, 2009
9:30 – Load and deliver soil and plants for Unitarian Universalist Fellowship gardens
On each of these dates at the specified time, volunteers will meet GIFT Gardens Coordinators (Denise or Lewis) at the Soil Bins at Loften High School – Professional Academies Magnet (3000 East University Ave) after signing in at the front office.
Volunteers will mainly be helping Garden Coordinators to shovel soil and construct the raised beds. Please come prepared with your own water, snack and gloves, and be ready to get dirty. Let me know if you have questions!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR HARD WORK AND DEDICATION TO HELP MAKE GIFT GARDENS POSSIBLE!
For more information about GIFT Gardens: www.foginfo.org/gift
Thank you kindly,
Wendi Bellows
Florida Certified Organic Growers and Consumers, Inc. (FOG)
P.O. Box 12311
Gainesville, FL 32604
(352) 377-6345 (office)
wendi@foginfo.org
www.foginfo.org
Popularity: 28% [?]
 Earthday Celebration Come celebrate Earth Day with Gators for a Sustainable Campus (GSC), Wednesday 4/22, in the Plaza of the Americas from 10 am to 3 pm. The day will be fun-filled, with everything from free plant giveaways, to carnival-style games, face painting, food, and other fun activities and giveaways.
*10:30 am — President Machen will give his annual State of Sustainability address. Sustainable Solutions awards winners will be honored directly following the address.
*1:00 pm — Local officials, including Mayor Hanrahan, will discuss “The Role of Local Governments in Solving the Climate Crisis.” GSC, Campus Climate Solutions, and Focus the Nation will host this solutions-oriented, nonpartisan forum on climate and energy policy.
GSC will also host a personal (non-UF property) household hazardous waste round-up, as well as a gently-worn clothing exchange.
Visit http://sustainablegators.org/events/come-to-earth-day-on-the-plaza/ for more details.
Popularity: 23% [?]
Happy Earthday Earthlings!!
Thanks to all who came out to our last workday and to Mother Nature for the wonderful spring rain. Please read below for details on an Earth Day Celebration today at the Plaza of the Americas starting a 10 – when’s the last time you ate Krishna Lunch on the Plaza?
And Dont forget about the Citizens Co-op Spring Concert this Saturday the 25th (PLease see first attachment(spring flyer screen.png)above for the juicy details - starts at 2 and rocks on til’ 11pm! Come out and be a part of it, the Co-op promises to be one of the coolest Gainesville Homegrown Ventures ever and you could help it launch! - maybe Ill see you there:)
Now for the bad news  - that last April freeze wreaked havoc on the berries – see rest of attachments for photos. There are still patches with healthy growing berries (and when you come out to work I will show you where those are  , but we will not have anywhere near the bountiful berries we had last year. This is an inevitable part of farming and the good news is the bushes look better than last year due to all your hard work and TLC. The 2 bridges patch was expected to have a thin crop because of our extended pruning last year – but there were some and now there are hardly any berries there – hopefully next year this patch will reward us with abundant berries. An unexpected boon from the freeze was that the vines that covered many bushes in other patches were frozen, giving the berry bushes a leg up, And all the energy the bushes would have put into berries will now go into growth!
So come out Thursday(Tomorrow), Friday and/or Sunday at 6pm and see for yourself! I will be at the barn at 6pm with plenty of tools. We will be starting on a new patch so please try to arrive before 6:30 so you can know where we are. After 6:30 I will close but not lock the gate – if it is closed when you arrive please close it again behind you. Please bring long sleeves, gloves and plenty of drinking water. Kids are welcome but please leave pet friends at home. If you have any questions please reply to this and I will try to be timely with a response. Now is the time to get your hours in – before the summer heat and bugs arrive! Many of you still owe hours from last year and ther may not be a U-Pick this year so if you want to pick – c’mon out and work with us – you wont regret it and kids love to get out in the fresh air and do something meaningful – we love kids! So bring the whole family out – you can say you helped keep the farm alive! If anyone wants to request a time or day for a work party please let me know – we can work it out! And the work is fun with the greatest folks in Gainesville working side by side on part of Gainesvilles living history.
Dont forget to check out the Spring flyer attachment – its beautifully done, and the Co-op needs your support!
Hope to see you in the rows or at the Citizen’s Co-op spring concert!
maureen => read on about todays celebration on the Plaze of the Americas.
PS – the big barnyard sale that was tentatively scheduled for this Saturday will be rescheduled later in the season – too much going on!
Popularity: 10% [?]
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