Community Garden at Howe Farm

The community garden abuts a hay field (to which it was once a part), and its time for the first cutting of the grass.  The field has been full of wild flowers, supporting a thriving bee and butterfly population, but there are now enough cultivated flowers from which they can collect pollen.   This first cutting serves as a signal that it is time to cut back the grass in the small orchard that is part of the donation garden.  This area is also full of wild flowers, and some cultivated flowers, and one day we hope it will be a wild flower meadow.  But for now, it is a mixture of grass, flowers and unwanted weeds.  As we like to keep things simple, the garden does not have tractors, brush hogs or mechanical tools, so the orchard is maintained the old fashioned way - with a scythe. It is hard work, so the process is spread over several days, but it does give one an appreciation for farming practices prior to farm machinery.  Imagine spending your day scyt...