Retrouvaille Vancouver Fall Program

Is Your Marriage in Crisis?

Repair your marriage, rediscover romance and gain the tools you need for healthy, loving communication!  Retrouvaille is a Catholic peer ministry which offers a two-month program for married couples with difficulities of all kinds, including years of misery, infidelity, separation, or even divorce.  It is not too late! For confidential information or to register for the Lower Minland program beginning the weekend of October 20 - 22, 2017, call Marc and Candice at 604-530-6710 and leave a message or email us at vancouverbc@retrouvaille.org.  More information also available on our websites www.retrouvaille.org and www.retrouvaillevancouver.com.

Masi Garden Requesting Summer Assistance

Masithuthu Garden, Summer 2017

Our school's Masithuthu Garden is growing again, producing food for the 9-10 Club.  We are again looking for those gardeners who can dedicate some time to assist us weed, hill and till the garden.  For more info, contact Jamie Zwicker at 250-391-1280, or at sjvmasithuthugarden@gmail.com.  No Experience is required.  (And for those that are "younger", it also looks good on a resume as a volunteer position:)

It is our hope to have at least 1 to 2 persons per day in the garden.  But of course, we will always welcome more.  You can sign up on this page:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ENqRaqvn1QhWUgDFJqafPH-IQgBxSJ6BbIhm5mQEZBY/edit?ts=5776e3d9#gid=0

Thank you for volunteering to perform minor tasks in our garden.  Whether you’re here for an hour, for a week, or more, it is greatly appreciated.

The Masithuthu Garden began in 2015 when the parish began looking to utilize the parish properly more efficiently. At the same time, the parish was also considering partnering and supporting another diocese in South Africa.  The school decided to provide the necessary support.  In 2015, the garden produced 580 pounds of potatoes.  In 2016, the school provided in excess of 1500 pounds of potatoes.  Throughout it all, parents, teachers, and parishioners visited the garden daily  and performed the more menial tasks of weeding.

This year, students planted the following vegetables for educational and ministry purposes.  The produce is intended primarily to assist the 9-10 Club and the SVdP’s Social Concern Office.  Some of the items planted are intended for school consumption.

This year, all of our plants have been harvested from last year’s seeds, generously donated, or purchased.

If you are performing hours for this year’s Parent Involvement Program, please keep track of your hours spent in our Garden.  It’s an honour system thing.J

Most days, I - or someone from the school - will drop by our Masithuthu Garden to oversee the garden maintenance – usually in the early mornings or later in the evenings.  If there is anything that you might find concerning or otherwise needing attention, feel free to call me (Jamie) at 250.391-1280.

Tools of the Trade

There is a “map” of the Masithuthu Garden in a green plastic duotang (inside a white plastic folder), which can be found under the bench as you enter the garden area.  There is also a collection of leather work gloves in the milk container underneath that same bench.  Feel free to use.

Most tools are there already:  a few shovels, pitchfork, rakes and hoes, and a green plastic watering can.  These may be found by the water spigot or tap.  Water taps are located on the road side (Area 2), and the school side (Areas 5 & 6).

1.  Hand water the tomatoes.

Use the hose with the attachment handle to gently spray water, or else use the plastic watering jug.

Timers are set for watering the garden, and will run from daily from 4:00-8:00 am.

However, the parsnips, carrots, and tomatoes are not within the range of the sprinklers.  So, they will need to be hand-watered daily.

2.  Weed the beds.

Weeds should be kept from growing in the pathways and in between the plants. 

Secondarily, this can include weeds growing immediately beside the fence in the pathways where nothing has been planted.

3.  Hill the potatoes.

This only is a concern around mid-July and later, when the plant is about 6 inches tall and before the potato plant blooms.

Procedure:

Put simply, standing astride the plant, hoe the dirt up around the base of the plant in order to cover the root as well as to support the plant. Bury any visible potatoes with the gathered, loose soil. The idea is to keep the potato from getting sunburned, in which case they turn green and will taste bitter.  (Some will say they become poisonous if they are left at this stage – but no need to worry.) 

We will need to hill potatoes every couple of weeks thereafter to protect our potato crop.

Don’t forget your water bottle, sunscreen and sun hat.

Ngiyabonga!