Reflections from Nicole as another season winds down...

Every season is different, and perhaps this is what brings us back to year after year of gardening; each day is truly an adventure, and even more so when it's shared with friends new and old! And this year with the Elkhart Local Food Alliance has been no different. We've added new gardens and gardeners to our collective, worked with new kids in our 4-H programming, incoporated top bar beekeeping into our educational programming, and are beginning work on a new greenhouse project. Much more than vegetables are growing here, it seems! And perhaps best of all, our relationships with each other and the land on which we live here in Elkhart County, are also growing. I am continually delighted as I experience the delight of others when they are first introduced to a new plant, a new wild edible, a new taste in the garden - and this reminds me of what it's truly all about! We are becoming more connected - to each other, to the earth, to the subtle shifts in our local climate, to the turning of the seasons, to where our food comes from... and through all of this becoming more connected to ourselves!