Volunteers installed over 4000 pounds of compost and peat moss last week
GALLERY: Wellsville JV Boys Baseball does the heavy lifting
By Andrew Harris,
Yes you read that right, over four thousand pounds of mushroom compost arrived on Main Street Wellsville to feed that community gardens located at the Fassett Greenspace. Situationed on the corner of Main and Fassett, the greenspace has a series of raised beds that grow both flowers and food for the community. The flowers are for beauty(don’t pick please,) and the fruit and vegetables are for anyone in the community to harvest freely. Yes, one of the big missions of the garden is Free Food For the People!!
East Wind Nursery in Belmont NY delivered thousands of pounds of mushroom compost, providing the non-profit with an amazing price, and a key ingredient to healthy plants. Runnings of Wellsville was kind enought to donate about 800 pounds of compost to finish the job. Mushroom compost is the rich biomass leftover from commercial mushroom growing operations. The mushrooms have “eaten” all the nutrition that is needed by fungi, leaving behind all of the nutrients and organic compounds that plants thrive upon. So the material is used to grow two crops and makes a great addition to the soil! Best yet it is all natural, keeping the gardens free of “forever chemicals,” and synthetic fertilzers.
When Wellsville Varisty Boy Baseball coach John Anderson heard about over 4000 pounds of mushroom compost that needed to be moved into the garden beds he quipped, “I know who can help with that!!”
We took him up on his offer and then appeared eight strapping young ball players!! The top players of the JV Team showed up and brought the muscle!! Brayden Geffers, Ryker Johnson, Christopher Thompson, Christian Wenslow, Mason Cook, Noah Salmonson, Kniffen Cook and Clayton Loucks did some community service and in short order! The boys ripped through thousands of pounds of compost in under and hour !! Thanks to the Lions for putting the age old saying, “many hands make light work” into action!! Here is a slideshow of the boys in action:
Now that the grow spaces at the Fassett Greenspace are full and fertilized the countdown to planting starts. During April volunteers will plant potatoes, garlic, and greens, May 1st is the typical green light for installing started plants like squash, tomatoes, and legumes. In the meantime, dozens of different flowers will be emerging, here is our first flower of the year!!!
The Fassett Greenspace relies on volunteer efforts and community donations to make the garden grows. The space also features outdoor musical instruments, a Little Free Library, and soon a working water fountain. If you would like to volunteer or help financially, visit ArtForRuralAmerica.org or connect with the Fassett Greenspace team on Facebook!
