These last few weeks have been a busy time of completing our 2016 garden box orders. It has not been the best weather - such high humidity that the paint runs when we try to stencil our logo on new boxes! However, we have been persevering and by tomorrow we hope to have a total of 13 boxes installed in Soce, with one last one painted and awaiting delivery.

At the end of 2015, we had three boxes on one block of Waco Avenue. Throughout the spring and summer of this year, we had requests for more garden boxes in SoCe. Now we have six boxes on Waco Avenue, three on Wichita, one on Main, one on Water, two on Market, and one on Morris. Early in 2016 we had the joy of installing a box for a resident at the Timbers.

The functioning garden boxes were very productive this summer. Our friend at the Timbers grew herbs. Meanwhile, in SoCe we enjoyed green beans, jalapeno peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes.  In fact, we are still enjoying tomatoes and eggplant and cannot bear to replace them with a fall planting of cool weather greens - yet.

I have had a lot of help with the garden box project this summer. Our intern, Kristin, did much of the painting on the boxes, sometimes assisted by visiting youth and other friends of SoCe. Mark and one of our neighbors constructed the new boxes with help from Southwestern College students and youth from Lenexa. Our friend, Curtis, gifted us with seeds. We have also had Isaac, a friend of SoCe, helping us install and fill boxes over the last few weeks. I am thankful to everyone who helps us grow good food in SoCe.