On September 4, 2011, I will be celebrating 31 years of life! I am so grateful and blessed to have such a wonderful circle of family and friends, I feel the best way to celebrate this year is by sharing my blessings with others.
Join me in my 3-1-Love Birthday Giveback!! I am simply asking family and friends to donate in denominations of “31” to benefit two local Detroit charities: Alternatives for Girls and In-Accord.
We are at war fighting for our youth right now, and it’s important that we take an interest and invest in their futures. Whether it’s $3.10, $31 or $310 (which would be AWESOME), please find it in your hearts to join me in forming a circle of love around our young people in Detroit.
For less than the cost of the drink you might buy me at the bar or that gift card to Starbucks you were thinking about grabbing for me, why not donate to TWO worthy causes in my name? You’ll feel twice as good about giving me a present this year! Please donate and pass the word along to help me reach my goal of $3,100 by Christmas!
Just click the "Chip In" button below to donate now!!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
You Reap What You Sow
After a busy week that took me away from the garden for longer than I cared, I finally made my weekly Saturday visit to the garden. I walked into what looked like a depressed garden. Leaves were starting to turn brown and crackly, the vegetables that were on the plants looked stunted and angry, and my beans poles had still not borne any fruit. I felt terrible. Instead of the eager, blooming garden I had grown to love, all I could see was an angry teenager being forced to do something it didn't want to do. It was a huge job I was not prepared to perform it alone. I called my mom to tell her the status, and found myself crying and overwhelmed. My mom, sensing that I was panicking, was there with my dad and brother within 30 minuttes to help. As I waited, I went to work on chopping cabbage, pulling monsterous zucchini and clipping peppers...
When I finally stepped back, I was astonished to see that I had been bagging tons of vegetables! I had 3 paper grocery bags FULL of veggies! I'm so new at this that I didn't even recognize that the end of the season is upon us, and this is...THE HARVEST!!!
So far we've harvested:
- Hot wax peppers
- Jalapeno peppers
- Green peppers
- Cabbage
- Collard greens
- Yellow Squash
- Zucchini
- Cucumbers (tons)
- Green tomatoes (for those who prefer them)
Holy moly! I now have a new understanding of "you reap what you sow." And yes, we had loads of food from the garden, but my real lesson was that the plants won't yield their best fruit without constant care. The most important job in gardening is to care for the plants well to make sure they are at their best when it's time for picking. Sometimes you don't have to know what you're doing - you just have to care. So many more lessons to learn in the garden...
Friday, August 5, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Special Dedication
This week marks the one year anniversary of the idea of the garden. It’s amazing to see just how far things have come from a crazy idea on the highway, to an ugly patch of dirt, to a flourishing vegetable-filled plot! The garden was officially blessed on June 5, 2011, as the Kenneth L. Whyte Community Garden. You may not have heard of him, but if you’re reading this blog, you are certainly a witness to his legacy.
Rev. Whyte was once the pastor of my church and a strong influence on my moral foundation. As pastor of our church, Rev. Whyte led with a fair and kind heart, always teaching us to accept and love one another for our unique characteristics. Through him, I learned that everyone has something to contribute, and if you just let people work within their individual strengths, you can find harmony amid diversity. You see, Rev. Whyte was an African-American pastor who was assigned to what was, at that time, an all white congregation. He encountered an abundance of adversity and racism, but ultimately transformed the church into a thriving multi-ethnic congregation filled with love and acceptance. At least, that’s how it was perceived to be through the eyes of a 7-year-old girl. Regardless of the racial tension that may have belabored the church at the time, I was raised in love and support by all of our members, with Rev. Whyte as the bond that held us all together.
As time went on, Rev. Whyte eventually went on to pastor another church, and with him went a lot of the diversity in ours. There is beauty in the fact that he maintained great friendships with my family as well as many of the other families in my church, so we never really lost him as “our pastor”. Last year, we were all saddened when Rev. Whyte lost his battle with lung cancer. I was fortunate enough to have had the privilege of visiting him in the hospital shortly before he passed away, and I was relieved to find that all of the respect and love I’d had for him was not merely my childish ideal of the “old church”, but a very real memory of a truly great man. Even while facing his own mortality, Rev. Whyte was willing to be my pastor one last time, sharing some very special life lessons and cementing his legacy of love and acceptance forever in my heart.
Just as all of the vegetables in this garden must learn to share this plot of land, allowing each plant to grow and prosper within its own unique characteristics, our church learned to do the same under Rev. Whyte’s guidance. And so, we dedicate this garden to the memory of Kenneth L. Whyte, who taught us so much about the meaning of Christian love and what it means to truly care about others. Even though he has not led our church for many years, Rev. Whyte’s spirit is still evident in the lives of the people he has touched and by the values we hold dear in our church to this day. From seeds of love, a garden grows – I think he knew what he was doing. Thanks, Rev. Whyte!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Humble Beginnings
Allow me to introduce myself: I'm Stacee, and I'm a mom via a gift from God, a market researcher by profession, a writer by passion and a gardener by chance.
I never thought I had a green thumb. Honestly, I've killed every plant I could get my hands on since I was just a girl. But gardening has always been a fixture in my life in some form. It started with my great-grandmother, who is said to have had the best garden in the county in the "old days". With much of my family migrating north from Mississippi in the 50's, my grandmother was next in line for her garden. Growing up, I remember her entire backyard was nothing but rows of vegetables. There were always fresh tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and greens of some variety in our home. So much so, that I didn't know one could buy these items in the grocery store! My grandmother passed away, but not without passing on the legacy to my aunt, whose backyard is filled with vegetables and flowers of all kinds, to this very day. My mother also gardens, and so the gardening bug has been passed down to me.
As I took the long journey from a family vacation in Tennessee back to my home in Michigan, my thoughts were on every farm I passed. I thought about how nice it would be to just have all this wide open space, growing food, raising goats and chickens, wearing my cute Wellies. Yes, I'm a city girl and I've got to farm fabulously!
By the time I got back from my trip, I was consumed with the idea of living on a farm. When I finally got my head out of the clouds, there was only one thing I could think of that would get me out into that open air, growing food and helping to foster a relationship with the community: I would plant a garden! I set out to create a proposal to use the land on my church's property and being a researcher by trade, checked out some books at the library (which I have yet to return). The response from the church was so positive, that here I am, almost one year to the day this idea came to me: Stacee Carter, Garden Coordinator!
This blog is about my journey into the world of gardening and urban farming. I've never so much as pulled up a weed or potted a plant in my life, but I am fully committed to the success of this garden and I lean heavily on my faith to get me through. All it takes is one small idea, or plantling in this case, to see your dreams grow into something beautiful and real! I've been challenged. I've had some failures. I've had some victories. And I've got a LOT more to learn! Thanks for stopping by, and come back often for more tales of the garden!
I never thought I had a green thumb. Honestly, I've killed every plant I could get my hands on since I was just a girl. But gardening has always been a fixture in my life in some form. It started with my great-grandmother, who is said to have had the best garden in the county in the "old days". With much of my family migrating north from Mississippi in the 50's, my grandmother was next in line for her garden. Growing up, I remember her entire backyard was nothing but rows of vegetables. There were always fresh tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and greens of some variety in our home. So much so, that I didn't know one could buy these items in the grocery store! My grandmother passed away, but not without passing on the legacy to my aunt, whose backyard is filled with vegetables and flowers of all kinds, to this very day. My mother also gardens, and so the gardening bug has been passed down to me.
As I took the long journey from a family vacation in Tennessee back to my home in Michigan, my thoughts were on every farm I passed. I thought about how nice it would be to just have all this wide open space, growing food, raising goats and chickens, wearing my cute Wellies. Yes, I'm a city girl and I've got to farm fabulously!
By the time I got back from my trip, I was consumed with the idea of living on a farm. When I finally got my head out of the clouds, there was only one thing I could think of that would get me out into that open air, growing food and helping to foster a relationship with the community: I would plant a garden! I set out to create a proposal to use the land on my church's property and being a researcher by trade, checked out some books at the library (which I have yet to return). The response from the church was so positive, that here I am, almost one year to the day this idea came to me: Stacee Carter, Garden Coordinator!
This blog is about my journey into the world of gardening and urban farming. I've never so much as pulled up a weed or potted a plant in my life, but I am fully committed to the success of this garden and I lean heavily on my faith to get me through. All it takes is one small idea, or plantling in this case, to see your dreams grow into something beautiful and real! I've been challenged. I've had some failures. I've had some victories. And I've got a LOT more to learn! Thanks for stopping by, and come back often for more tales of the garden!
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
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