Planting Blitz at Eden Village Camp

Last winter I got a Hannukah present from my girlfriend's mom. It's a mug that says, "Sustainability. Grow it yourself. Plan a Farm Garden Now." At first we all kinda thought it was funny. What exactly is a "Farm Garden?" Why should we "Plan" it rather than "Plant" it? Our thinking was that this mug was most likely not produced by native English speakers, and something got lost in translation. But over time I've found it to be more accurate than I originally thought, as it, in many ways, describes the last few months of my life. I have been planning a Farm Garden (I'm still not entirely sure what that is, but I'm getting a better idea everyday) for Eden Village Camp, a new camp opening next week in the Hudson Valley, NY. Much of this planning has been from a distance, and therefore, hasn't actually included a whole lot of planting.

Until yesterday. The farm staff has been on site for a few months, but the rest of the summer staff, myself included, only arrived on Sunday. So yesterday, a handful of us went out to the Farm Garden and had a little planting blitz. We had several flats donated to us from a friend's farm, and the plants were itching to get in the ground. So along one of the paths of our Farm Garden, we planted okra, sunflowers, holy basil, marigolds and zinnias. In just 10 minutes, we got over 100 plants in ground. Right as we were planting, the intense heat started to break with some much needed rain. Perfect timing. All night the skies provided the watering and the plants adjusted to their new homes. It's gonna be a good summer.

FYI, the bloke in the picture is not me...it's Jonah, one of our awesome farm interns.