<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; ">Dear Community Gardeners:<DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>We hope that you are enjoying the tolerable weather. Our plants are growing wonderfully, and we are looking towards the fall with excitement. We haven't given you a proper update on the garden in a couple weeks, and wanted to share what's going on outside.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><B>Garden Update</B></DIV><DIV><B><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></B></DIV><DIV><B><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">The cooler weather has brought some great gardening. The warm weather crops are being relentless, spreading just a bit further and sending another set of fruits. I keep thinking its the last week for cucumbers, but we've got yet another bucket of them. Fernando and I picked about 20 pounds of cherry tomatoes in the last two days, and our refrigerator isn't big enough to hold all the honeydew melons we have harvested (they're the size of basketballs!). And we're harvesting okra every day. I think Margaret, the director of the Engaged University, said it best when she said it seems like that once plot of grass just wants to be productive.</SPAN></B></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Looking to the future, we have the brightest green lettuce I've ever seen growing. With the backdrop of the monotone green foliage of the melons, tomatoes, and cucumbers, they are seemingly florescent. We're going to wait for them to form heads before we harvest them, about another month. We have trays of fall greens such as collards, cabbage, and chard waiting to be transplanted. We're waiting for the William Wirt Middle School students to plant them in the garden in their after school program, which starts next week. Our winter squash are being their imperialist selves, spreading out into the tomatoes and collards. Yesterday I saw our first little butternut squash, a welcome reminder of colder weather to come. We planted a fall carrot crop last weekend, which should be showing itself any day now. Our fall bean crop is coming in nicely, we have both green beans and shelling beans planted. One of our peach trees, which started about the size of my forearm about six months ago, is about twice the size of my whole body. When our tomatoes, peppers, and melon plants finally give in, we have plans to plant garlic in the open space. </DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><B><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">We'll be at the Riverdale Farmers Market this Thursday (today!) from 3 to 7, selling tomatoes, cucumbers, kale, collards, melons, basil, okra, and anything else that we can find in the field. Come by and taste the flavors of Maryland.</SPAN></B></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><B><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">We're also really excited to have a new employee for the fall. Andrea, a University undergrad, is starting with us this week, and she's going to be working on community and campus outreach. We're really excited to have her on board, making our work more visible to everyone in the neighborhood and at the University.</SPAN></B></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><B>Upcoming Events</B></DIV><DIV><B><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></B></DIV><DIV>There is ample volunteer opportunities, and the pleasant weather is just one more reason to come out. If you are interested in getting your hands dirty, come by any Saturday from 9 to 10. We'll be out there getting the garden work done. We're putting in weed-free paths, weeding, planting fall seeds, things like that. Nothing too strenuous. </DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Also, we're looking for a graphic designer who can design a logo for us. If you are savy in that field and have a couple hours, let us know. We have the idea, we just need it on a computer screen. If you are comfortable with pen and ink illustration, we could use a drawing and scan it instead of designing it on a computer.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>If you're a people person, we want to have a harvest celebration in the garden this fall. If coordinating such an event sounds intriguing, let me know.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Outside garden activities, there is a Riverdale Community Association meeting happening at the Center for Educational Partnership, the building that the garden is at, on Wednesday the 12th at 7:30 PM. I will be giving a short presentation about the garden and its role in the neighborhood. </DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Finally, I'm trying to clean up and build this email list. If you know anyone that you would like me to add to it, if you are getting two emails for some reason, or if you are not interested in receiving these emails any more, let me know.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Take care, happy gardening, and we'll see you at the market.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>-Vinnie and the Master Peace Community Garden</DIV><DIV>6200 Sheridan Street</DIV><DIV>Riverdale, MD 20737</DIV><DIV><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"></SPAN> <BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>