Volunteer Day with David Kraemer

​We see the future! This past Saturday we volunteered with longtime AOG member David Kraemer at the Blackland neighborhood community garden project. The gardens have a cistern, which is working again and we love peering into the retro- futuristic looking orb cover. David brought us to the present and gave us a tour of the land trust /affordable housing project that started in the '80s to prevent UT from expanding on the east side. Volunteers from the neighborhood more recently started growing gardens in traffic circles and in raised wicking beds.

With the help of volunteers and special guest @samthefungi we built new raised beds in the easement using recycled rubber tires. Of course we added some recycled mushroom blocks to help break down the woody matter in the soil so that it is bioavailable to plants! This process is also sequestering carbon in the soil. 🌍🍄💗 Sign-up to get recycled blocks for your garden.

David knows a lot about growing warm season greens and we couldn't get enough of the Egyptian spinach or Molokhia This green is packed full of nutrients and we felt like Pharaoh's eating it. We harvested peppers and Jamaican sorrel. We did some seed saving of poppies and nigella or love-in-a-mist. These ornamental flowers are ready to be direct seeded and will bloom in the spring. David also gave us oxblood lily bulbs to take home.

David is a pillar in the Austin Organic Gardeners community and we appreciate his generosity and love of gardening.