Wisdom from the Winter Garden

The winter garden is not beautiful to the untrained eye. No more neat, vibrant rows of lettuce, carrots, chard, squash, and tomatoes. No colorful display of flower blossoms or insects abuzz. No neighborhood children running to pick carrots—exclaiming over how a radish grows. Nothing but empty lines, sad perennials. The intelligent gardener uses winter to enrich their soil with a diverse jungle of cover crops to nurture microbial activity, replenish nutrients depleted from last season, and build the soil by growing then composting organic matter. These techniques significantly enhance next season’s potential, but in winter this looks like chaos that doesn’t fill harvest baskets. It is generally barren, decaying, messy. It seems meaningless and a little depressing.

Wisdom for the Way, Inter-ThemeAndrea LingleDecember 27, 2017Kate Rudd, garden, community gardenComment

Natural Playground

Haw Creek Commons Natural Playground
by Katey Rudd

The natural playground that we spotlighted as just a dream a few months ago has now become a reality!

The playground includes a trail system, outdoor kids’ chapel and education space, three tiered platform, a slide embedded in the hill on the trail, a log bordered sandbox, a log balance beam system, four tunnels to grow hops for a local brewery, and two nature tables to inspire children to use nature to make temporary creations.

Bees & Honey

Bees & Honey
by Kate Rudd

We added an exciting feature to Haw Creek Commons recently - bee hives! We started with four hives: two Langstroth hives whose focus is honey production, and two top bar hives whose focus is beeswax production. The bee yard is complete with bear fencing (aka electrical fencing) as well as a privacy fence to deter hive theft (apparently a big deal in North Carolina).

Wisdom for the Way, SpotlightMissional Wisdom FoundationJanuary 13, 2017Haw Creek Commons, Kate Rudd, bees, AshevilleComment

Community Garden

Haw Creek Commons Community Garden
This week's guest author, Kate Rudd, is the Cultivator at Haw Creek Commons in Asheville, NC.

Haw Creek Commons has a new addition: a community garden! The 3,000 square foot Haw Creek Garden is situated in front of the parsonage, or Haw Creek House, and is open to neighbors who want to learn and grow food.