Consider making a tax-exempt gift to the garden. It’s easy!

Make check payable to Neighborhood Gardens Association (NGA). Make notation on check and in envelope that the gift is for Southwark Queen Village Community Garden.

Alert SWQV Garden treasurer or another officer that you have made a gift and the amount so we can ensure gifts sent to NGA are received.

Send check directly to NGA (see below) or give check to SWQV Garden treasurer to send to NGA:

Neighborhood Gardens Association (NGA)
100 North 20th Street, 5th Floor
Philadelphia PA 19103

Questions, contact Chris Jefferson.

A visit to the garden this afternoon found me face to face across someone’s garden with the elusive mystery muncher. After the discussions at the meeting last night about whether our hip-hop is wild or domesticated, I decided to approach him and see how used to humans he was. My first step sent him scurrying into the undergrowth thus effecting his escape. I was able to catch a picture with my iphone. This was my second sighting, and I will continue to keep my eyes open.

On Sat. Sept 15, we held the annual garden Bar-B-Q. A great time was had by all. We enjoyed visitors from all over the city and from as far away as Florida and Israel The food as usual was beyond magnificent, between the Bar-B-Q ed meats and the variety of side dishes and desserts, no one left hungry even if they were on a diet. The music provided by Scott and his crew kept everyone entertained. A big thanks to all who worked and planned and made it all happen!

Numerous rabbit sightings have been reported from all parts of the garden this week: Rochelle, Thom, Don S., Carolyn, Barb M. and, most recently, Pauline, who managed to capture our guest in the above photo.

Pro- and Anti-Rabbit coalitions are rapidly developing among our gardeners, so it might be time to ask if you or anyone you know would be interested in adopting. As all who have had the pleasure of seeing him/her will attest, our rabbit is young, charming, small (less than 1 ft. from the tip of his long ears to his little cotton tail), and may have been someone’s pet because he/she does not appear to be unduly startled by humans.

If you are interested, please email the garden.

Carolyn, who once had a pet rabbit, cautions that your home should be “rabbit ready” before you consider adoption. A rabbit’s front teeth grow continuously so they need to continuously chew — furniture, electrical wires, books, electronic equipment, musical instruments…however, the good news is that they can be easily trained to use a litter box.

UPDATE (8/29/2012): Linda Witt suggests we hold a naming contest for our rabbit. She starts it out by suggesting “Munchie” as her entry.

UPDATE (8/30/2012): Sharron Cohen, our honorary blogger on BugBlog and insect photographer extraordinaire, has not one but four entries: Hare Trigger, Hare Today, Hare E. Krishna, and Broccoli Rabe(it)…

UPDATE (8/31/2012): Barbara McKenzie is toying with Monsieur /Mademoiselle Lapin, but her friend Jeff, who watched a lot of Bugs Bunny cartoons in his youth, prefers Meister Hasenpfeffer.

To see more photos of events, CLICK HERE.

Emmie is a grad student at Penn in education and will be student-teaching at Meredith Elementary this fall. Emmie wanted to learn more about important assets in the community of her future students, so she contacted the garden and we arranged a visit.

Emmie had a great time and received lots of info for her project. By the end of her visit she had learned about City Harvest and both the Sadie Glover Blossom Summer Camp and the Seniors at Riverview Courtyard, and met Barry Perrin, the Social Services Director there. She met the people from Fleisher’s ColorWheels program who were giving an art program for local kids in the garden. She also met Jeff Hornstein from QVNA as well as other gardeners and Lisa Mosca from PHS. She learned about Essene’s involvement in the community — it was like a one-stop shopping experience only with research!

We thank Essene Markets for their generous donation of two brand new canopies to the garden. Ed Mitinger is showing the canopies being set up today for a Fleisher “Color Wheels” art session for neighborhood young people attending the Sadie Glover Blossom Summer Camp. The canopies will be used for community service events as well as internal garden festivities. Thank you Essene Market & Cafe!

A third grade class from McCall Elementary School visited the garden on June 4th. They were studying hunger this year, so who better to guide the tour than Ed & Janice & the City Harvest crew, who talked with the kids about the work being done by City Harvest. This is the thank-you note received after their visit:

To read more, CLICK HERE.

I know it’s hot.  Whew!  And I know, it doesn’t look promising for rain.  But keep your fingers crossed – this kind of heat often results in a thunderstorm.

While I know you worry about your crops, please try to conserve water.  Please water at  good time and water deeply instead of often.  Please try to resist the urge to water every day.  Gray & Tigger report the plants will be okay if they are not watered every day.  Honestly, I haven’t watered since Tuesday… (and have been doing a rain dance each night).

Big farmers in the Midwest make due in the heat every year – watering every day is out of the question.  So, think like a Midwestern farmer!

Finally, the shed was unlocked this week and, unfortunately, left open.  Oh dear!  This is a problem for two reasons:  1) we have a lot of value in that shed, tools, electrical, etc. and 2) one of the cats (or a squirrel) could get in there and it’s too hot for that.  Please – open the shed, get what you need and then lock it immediately.  I know it’s a pain, but it saves us a lot in the long run.

Why this matters?  Remember, last week I saw someone checking our gate to see if he could get in and remember Beck Park had all the tools stolen from their garden shed this past spring.  You might think “who would want a rusty old rake?”.  You’d be surprised what people will steal.

So think about rain, think about locking the shed, and think about me having a cold beer at my local tonight.   Feel free to join me!