Friday night at New Paris’ 2nd Friday Festival

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2nd Friday, Bingo, Boy Scouts, Community, Corn Hole Contest, Family Fun, Fellowship, Fun, Good Times, Ice Cream, Music, New Paris, New Paris Firefighters, Round Ball Racing, Sunnyside Park Food Booth, Water Ball Contest

What better way to spend a last summer weekend than at the New Paris’ last 2nd Friday Festival of 2013.

There was something for everyone.

New Paris is the ONLY place in Indiana to hold Round Boat races.

WINNERS OF New Paris Round Boat Race…

$1st Place – $100 prize:

Parker and Nathan Hart took 1st place in the New Paris Round Boat Race.

Round Boat Race 2nd Place Winners

The 2nd place winners, Nick Harris and Andy Dixon, were in great spirits. They had come close to taking the first place prize.

Bingo, fellowship with friends, and great food!

New Paris friends get together for Bingo and fellowship. It takes time to make the best food choice because EVERYTHING at the Sunnyside Park ‘Food Booth’ is SO GOOD.

The Water Ball Contest, compliments of the New Paris Fire Department, is a huge hit!

The Water Ball Contest goes on full blast as Nathan and Parker Hart take on their fellow New Paris Boy Scouts.

Who has the OLDEST TREE IN NEW PARIS?

A white oak tree very much like the one that is New Paris’ oldest tree.

Kirby Meyers has the OLDEST TREE in New Paris. His white oak tree, located in Matthew’s woods, is estimated to be 309 years old. In 1704 when the Americas were still in early stages of settlement, Meyers’ tree was just a seedling. White oak trees can grow to a massive size — up to 150 feet with an 80-foot spread. 800-year-old white oak trees have been known to exist.

Congratulations Kirby! You had a LOT of competition, but we are proud to have such a distinguished tree, which has lived through so MUCH HISTORY as part of our community.

The produce keeps rolling in!

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Church Community Services, Fair Donations to Food Pantry, Farm Donations, Farming, Fellowship, Food, Gardens, Helping Others, Volunteering

Please spread the word that Church Community Gardens is always looking for volunteers for their gardens. My husband and I have been working at the Goshen Garden on Monday nights and the people are so friendly. It is a great way to make new friends and although I admit to feeling sore sometimes afterwards, I don’t mind because the conversation and fellowship are so fulfilling:

Goshen Garden: 14723 CR 36, Goshen. Mondays @ 5:30pm. Coordinator: Jeremy Shue: jeremyshue@gmail.com. 574-536-2010

Bullard Garden: 22104 CR 14, Elkhart. Tuesdays @ 5:30pm. Coordinator: Kurt Bullard: Kurtbullard4444@gmail.com. 574-298-9059

CCS Garden: 902 Thomas St, Elkhart. Wed & Thurs @ 8:00am. Coordinator: Katie Jantzen: mailto:Kurtbullard4444@gmail.com. 574-295-3673 ext 122

Northwest Goshen: 538 S. Indiana Ave, Goshen. Wednesdays @ 5:30pm. Coordinator: Andrea Milne andreajillmilne@gmail.com.574-400-5858

Heart’s Desire Garden: 3030 Old US 20, Elkhart. Thursdays @ 5:30pm. Coordinator: Dave Hochstetler Dhhooch@aol.com. 574-349-4905

Church Community Services News

It’s fair week, and we’re pleased to report that the auction and tractor rides the Fair Board organized to benefit Seed to Feed brought in $1,620 dollars!  Thank you!

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Julie Miers, Family Nutrition Program Assistant, was at the pantry on Tuesday to provide samples of simple recipes, and this week she spent much of her time educating interested clients about basic nutrition.  Here she is speaking to a group of women about healthy meal planning.

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Here they are!  The first Seed to Feed tomatoes of the season!  These came from the Goshen garden on Monday.

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The CCS garden also had a few tomatoes ripe, as well as lots of yellow squash, patty pan squash, eggplants, yellow beans, purple beans, collards, kale, chard, hot peppers, and sweet peppers!

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Adding this to the zucchini and cucumbers from the River Oaks garden and the zucchini from the Heart’s Desire garden, we’ve really got a…

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Volunteers needed this week to help Seed to Feed’s garden (part of Church Community Services)

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Civic Engagement, Civic Service, Community, Community Church Service, Community Service, Fellowship, Fresh Air, Garden, Gardening, Good Exercise, Green bean, Helping, Helping Neighbors, Home, Philanthropic, Philanthropy, Volunteer

Our first Seed to Feed harvest — so beautiful. Much more to come!

There are some really IMPORTANT events coming up this next week. Volunteers are needed to pick green beans at the Bullard Farm on Monday, Aug 6th at 9:00 a.m.

The location is on CR17, just south of CR14 on the west side of the road. It is directly across from Sorg Jewelers. 8 to 10 volunteers are needed.

‘Seed to Feed’ also needs help picking produce and tying up tomato plants in the Goshen garden. The meet-up time is at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug 7th. The garden is located on CR 36, just east of CR 33 by about 4-5 blocks on the north side.  As they start to get good yields from the garden, ‘Seed to Feed’ wants to thank all the volunteers who come out to help and to welcome our newest volunteers who are joining our weekly updates.

Thanks to the Elkhart community for supporting the “Seed to Feed” program.

When the Seed to Feed program started, there were only two people and an idea. Now the group has 40 members and 70 acres of land. Dave Hochstetler is the coordinator for the Seed to Feed program, which is trying to grow fresh produce for Church Community Services, an Elkhart food pantry. The group held its first harvest on Tuesday with volunteers coming out to help pick.

The garden is one acre, full of peppers, onions, corn, bell peppers, tomatoes and green beans. They have 70 acres of land total, with some acres full of crops they can sell and use the proceeds to buy produce at auction.

Volunteers working in the garden in Goshen.

While the program only extends to Church Community Services, its organizers hope to expand it so they can help all of the 30-plus pantries in the Elkhart County area.

The Future Farmers of America chapters for both NorthWood and Fairfield high schools have also become involved in the project. Students from the Future Farmers of America from both Northwood and Fairfield came out to Tuesday’s harvest.

Director of Food Services Mary Kneller came out on Tuesday to pick vegetables. Since CCS feeds about 2,500 families a month, it would take a large project to be able to feed all of them fresh vegetables.

“This is self-sustaining,” she said. “It’s exciting.”

The group started last winter and planted the seeds in late May and will continue harvesting throughout the summer and will be looking for people to help. They are also looking for other people to donate land they can use for gardening.

Kneller said she didn’t know what to expect when they first started the program. Right now the group has 70 acres and hope to grow that number until they have enough land to be able to feed all the hungry families in the area.

“It’s Elkhart County taking care of Elkhart County,” she said.

More about ‘Seed to Feed’ HERE and HERE.

Related articles

• County farmers and ‘Church Community Services’ join forces to feed the hungry (elkhartcountygrassrootshub.wordpress.com)
• Church gardens become a growing ministry (timesdispatch.com)