community gardens

Part of my job now, one of my favorite parts, is just interacting with the community. Going out and providing a place for families to interact with one another. Today I joined some members of a community garden to provide a Family Day for the neighborhood residents. All with their charming garden serving as the backdrop.

So charming right?! It even came complete with a mini lending library (not to mention all the bags of books and games given away to the neighborhood kids).

There was music, games, storytelling, BBQing, a salsa competition and a juicing station. Let me tell you. That juice was blowing my mind. The table was full of fresh fruits and veggies, being squeezed on the spot by Gary (who is not someone I knew before, but juice brought us together today). Amazing. I'm like halfway out the door to go buy a blender and fancy juicer and live on a liquid diet for the rest of my life. The combinations! The flavors! The fiber! Ok the last one sounds really lame, but seriously. My mind is running with this idea. And obviously I'm way behind the curve here. I mean "juicing" has been a thing for forever now, but I just was never in on it. This guy was throwing in whatever all willy-nilly and it was all good. My favorite combo? Fresh carrot and apple juice, with some pineapple, mango and banana thrown in. And a beet. Or as the juice man himself was calling it- a "color bomb". The kids especially were loving that one! I didn't even get photographic evidence. I drank it too fast. And also it's not like it looks so amazing. You would see it and think "yeah, looks like Jamba Juice" but you would be oh-so underestimating the flavor.

Anyway, the rest of the event was really wonderful as well. I even got lucky and brought some garden-grown cucumbers home. It wasn't long before hubs and I had them infusing our water for a much needed refresher on this hot day.