While my Internship at the Thurston County Food Bank is over that doesn’t mean they don’t have my number to call and ask for favors, which I am thankful for. This last week I helped the Food Bank prepare for their Volunteer Appreciation Lunch and the Thurston County’s Food Literacy Day. Luckily I am easily able to create a symbiotic relationship out of this! We went to ….. garden to harvest flowers for bouquets. Each bouquet had flowers from partnered school gardens, farms who donate and some locally foraged greens. It was wonderful to see another school garden, this one owned by the city on a wet land. This meant that the infrastructure was impressive and that this garden would be there for a long period of time. While picking flowers I scavenged the ground for fallen or passing flowers, mostly dahlias.
Next I went to Saint Marks Lutheran Church, they have a large garden in partnership with the neighborhood, Mountain View Elementary and the Food Bank. Food Literacy Day was held at this garden, class by class the elementary students walked, skipped and screamed across the street to listen to a story about zucchinis and pick pumpkins they planted earlier that year. While at the garden I picked up flowers from the ground and harvested old buds and passing dahlias. I also harvested the remaining pieces of purple cabbage that would not be used. This was an awesome opportunity for me to stay involved and show support for the School Gardens Program, get my own project supplies and divert waste.
Then came the plucking of petals and the sorting of colors. With not much information on the internet regarding dahlias for dye, I am trying small batches to differentiate color and intensity even in the slightest.
