The Sweet Briar Community Garden

We have about 30 lbs of community strawberries picked, processed, and frozen.  It’s a short season, and the more berries we get the more jam we can make and sell in the fall, so keep picking!  Go for berries that are ripe but firm.  A bit of white on some berries is good, since it adds some pectin to the mix.  You can bring what you pick to my house and I’ll take care of the processing.

Thanks to Ami, Lisa, Bonnie, and Olga for all their efforts.

Joel Salatin spent the day with the Sweet Briar community on January 31, including a visit to the garden, where he added his signature to our “wall of honor.”

Joel Salatin's signature

Following the garden tour, we met with Mr. Salatin and discussed ways in which we could make our community more sustainable.

Recordings of Mr. Salatin’s two talks should be available, I believe through the library, in case you were unable to hear him in person. Contact Bonnie if you have any questions.

Hi SBCGers,

Alix recommended I post this wish list for the Garden to the website:

I have been considering topics relating to the garden and I thought to share
some of my ideas with you
to start a dialog and conversation about various possible directions we can go
with SBCG.  I list these
in no particular order or priority:

*  Composting Toilet
*  Hoop Houses
*  A turkey in conjunction with a hoop house for mowing
*  Indian runner ducks and rabbits
*  A real solar-heated greenhouse
*  A beehive
*  A vermicompost
*  Consult with organic farmers about how to amend this soil
*  Shiitake mushroom production
*  Liase with SBC about silviculture for woodchips/mulch/building materials
*  Also approach SBC about developing a program and structures for chickens to
eat dining hall waste
and provide manure for composting
*  Develop a comprehensive/integrated soil building program for SBCG and SBC
*  Identify new areas to expand SBCG, for example the flat area below the
childrens’ school and present
proposals to SBC
*  Develop a forward-looking agricultural and silvicultural plan which includes
all of the SBC acreage, to include
students and faculty, environmental studies, biology, and business
departments, which will provide food
for student use and generate income for the College, including orchards,
vegetable cropping, livestock
and silviculture–we can present this plan as a way to reconnect with Sweet
Briar’s agricultural past
by developing a curriculum which will provide a panoply of benefits for the
School in the present and future

I look forward to the Community Garden meeting on the 23rd.

Tim