We visited a community garden in east Dallas today. At first I was thinking, "I live in the suburbs, why would we need community gardens? Everyone has a yard." But then I realized that a lot of people don't know how to garden. Its a skill that has been lost over the generations. My mom is a great gardener, but I'm not. At this garden, there are about 20 plots that families can rent and grow on, and wow, can they grow stuff. They were amazing. There were also several larger plots that were for the community, and groups from school or church or senior centers would work them, as well as Master Gardeners. Whoever was working during harvest got that food, and the extra goes to food banks. There were several fruit trees, grape vines, and even a honey bee hive, too. They have a lot of composting, and even rain barrel cisterns. Pretty impressive setup.

My friend Amy and I helped to harvest some rye. The rye is a buffer plant by the fence, that prevents weeds from growing. It also provides nutrients to the soil. After the rye we harvested is dry, they will have kids stomp on it to get out the seeds. They will make a little bit of bread, as a project for the kids, but most of the seed will go to plant more rye. After we finished harvesting, they mowed down the stalks, tilled the ground, and planted sweet potatoes.