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Greetings and welcome to our website! Lettuce Eat is currently saving money and planning ahead. My partner and I separated last fall and I allowed myself to incur some additional debt during the months that followed. In February I traveled to Chattanooga and earned my CDL (commercial driver's license) in an attempt to collect and save funds to bring back to the farm and to grow the program the way it was intended to be. I want to apologize for not sharing this information with the members of Lettuce Eat sooner. I realize you were expecting to hear about what was available and when! The garden was clean and sown with new lettuce and vegetables when I started training to drive this truck. When I left those first weeks out, (seven weeks initially) mother and her caretakers harvested lots of greens and snow peas. Mother's freezer is full of red mustards and curly mustards. I was not in an emotional state at the time to realize it, but the rest of the garden needed one of you to go and to tend it and to reap the harvest for yourself as mother's helpers only harvested the greens and left the rest of the garden to grow up and go to waste. The majority of the work was completed to go ahead with an abundant season as I had cleaned everything, and on my home days I've looked and seen that the squash vines were allowed to die off because nobody was keeping them cut, and the same with the cucumbers and other things as well with weeds etc. There remains opportunities still however! I want to try and connect with you now as I should have then. The boxes which are framed in hard wood above the ground, have been cared for these years and are relatively easy to weed and prepare if one of you wanted to claim some things of your own. Also, mothers parkinson's disease is advancing. Her insurance has reached the end of it's policy as I understand. I had found a young woman last fall on craigslist to live on the other side of her home in the apartment (which is very nice) who had a housing need and helped to care for mother during the nights after she returned from work. That helper has recently moved out however. Mother's needs are once again becoming an issue. I'm not at home any longer as my job keeps me out for four weeks at a time with four days off. I guess I am also reaching out to anyone who has any resources or suggestions or would even want to go and meet her and offer yourself in any way as little or as much as you wanted to in order that her well being might be supported. Please call me if you would like to discuss this. Lettuce Eat may not be delivering to the community for some time, but what it has to offer is not gone away. the garden waits for one who has some free time and a will to do the work. Morning is the best time to get out there and clean out a box for yourself. Some of the boxes, if weeded, have treasures to reveal! Finders keepers! I'll be home August 13th and would love the opportunity to work together with someone or with a group who has an interest. Two people can get a lot done in a short amount of time if they work together. The harvest is not lost! I've set up a Twitter site (www.twitter.com/lettucetweet) where we all should meet and tweet and brainstorm for the fall harvest!! When I come in on the 13th of August, perhaps one of you or more! will have already cleaned some boxes and prepared to get the fall crops in! Whoever does the work gets to eat the food! It's that simple. Of course my mother will be owed a portion since it's her land that we'll be using. I would just be happy knowing the garden is providing for the needs of the community as it was meant to. These are growing pains as far as I'm concerned, but Lettuce Eat will go forward! If you don't use Twitter, you can email me or call me and discuss your ideas or suggestions or desires for the fall season. There is much work to be done in simply preparing and cleaning the garden up from summer neglect. If we all came together in August when I'm in town, I think we could clean it up easily in half a day. When the fall rolls around after you've worked together to keep the beds moist during any dry spells, we can all say together, Lettuce Eat! The harvest can continue well into November and even December. The harvest is great, so let's not settle for only a few workers bringing it on. Lettuce Work Together! Lettuce Eat!
Wow, Ben!! Those salads were absolutely GREAT. My wife actually said it was the best salad she had ever had! - Rob Lesman
I saw your sign when I was turning on Powder Branch and was so excited ... I subscribe to a CSA in Durham, NC. I just wanted to say thanks for doing your part to bring farming practices here back to what they should be. - Ashley Clark