It is finally springtime! House and yard cleanup, barbecues and gardening are a few of people’s favorite pastimes. I will be talking about gardening in this article. For the novice out there, please don’t start planting before May 10. Ed Hanna mentions this on Channel 69 News during his weather reports. This should be the last date for freezing temperatures in our area. I will give you what and when the farmer’s almanac says to plant later in the story.

The Whitehall Hunger Initiative is involved with two gardening projects, at Lafarge and the Mickley-Prydun Farm. I hope you all will get involved with the farm and with a third project - home vegetable gardening. Fresh-cut vegetables are very nutritious and tasty. They are also cheaper than canned or frozen vegetables. There are tons of recipes that are easy to prepare and move from garden to table.

Manager Lorraine Faccenda and the employees at Lafarge North America, located at 5160 Main St., (Route 329), Whitehall are starting a vegetable garden at the Cementon plant. Lorraine is involved with our initiative and is also on the Food Recovery and Respect Committee of the Lehigh Valley Food Policy Council. The employees and Lorraine want to grow a vegetable garden and donate all the vegetables to the Whitehall, Coplay, Catasauqua, and Northampton food banks. Thank you, Lafarge, for doing a great community service for our area.

We are hoping other businesses and churches will also start a garden and donate fresh vegetables to our local food banks. The owners of Whitehall Diner have a vegetable garden next to their diner. For years, they used their homegrown vegetables in the meals served at the diner - this is great!

Whitehall Township, through Mayor Ed Hozza, is allowing our Hunger Initiative to garden a 40-foot-by-60-foot plot at the 15-acre Mickley-Prydun Farm, located at 3540 Ruch St. Per the Oct. 8, 2015, Whitehall-Coplay Press story by Al Recker, “The Mickley-Prydun property is near Tate Meadows where foxes and deer can sometimes be spotted on the grounds. The Ironton Rail Trail borders the estate. The Whitehall Historical Preservation Society also will have a role in the Mickley-Prydun future.”

Rob Williams is both a Hunger Initiative and Whitehall Historical Preservation Society member. He is overseeing the gardening project at the farm. Rob hopes to have the garden like it was in the 1700s. His objectives are to have people come and help him create and work the garden. As the garden comes along in the next year or so, Rob would really like to get young school kids involved with gardening. The soil is very rocky at this point. He has started to work the ground but really wants to be moving in full force by mid-May.

Gardeners, supplies and manpower are needed. Believe it or not, many young people do not know what a carrot or tomato is, let alone where it comes from. They think it shows up at the store! They don’t know what it tastes like or how to prepare it. If you are interested in helping with this rewarding project, please contact me.

I am asking the residents to please plant a vegetable or two for the local food banks. This can be tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, etc. I am asking you to “Plant a Row.” Have you heard about this program? When you are planting your regular garden, just add a row of seeds or plants for the food bank. If you don’t have a yard, you can grow potted plants like tomatoes and peppers. Visit plantarowlv.com for details. We would like you to donate directly to our local food banks.

At the Whitehall Food Bank and at our free community meals, held the third Tuesday of the month at different churches in Whitehall and Coplay, our Hunger Initiative is offering food demonstrations on how to prepare easy meals using fresh vegetables. Recipes also will be provided to take home. I have been at the food bank during the summer when there are boxes of fresh peaches, carrots, cucumbers, etc. People walk right by these items. They don’t know what they are and do not know what to do with them. As sad as that sounds, it is true. I have seen it. Please let me know if you can help with the demonstrations.

The Farmer’s Almanac’s gardening site, farmersalmanac.com/calendar/gardening/, provides the next two months of dates to plant items in our area. I don’t know how true this is, but it is fun to read. Some vegetables have a few good planting dates. Bad planting dates are also indicated. I mention one of these bad day dates below. Again, pay attention to May 10 as the last freeze date of our local spring season. You can wait to plant until after May 10 if you don’t want to plant in April.

April 8 and 9: beans, corn, tomatoes, peppers

April 10 and 11: poor days for planting; seeds tend to rot in ground

April 19 and 20: melons, squash

April 21-23: cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, kale, celery and other leafy vegetables, beets, carrots, radishes, turnips and other root crops

April 26-28: onions

May 1 and 2: strawberry plants

May 9 and 10: okra, eggplant

Contact me with any questions at 610-266-5241 or shari@sharinoctor.com.

Please attend our Hunger Initiative meetings 11 a.m. the fourth Tuesdays of the month at Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, 3355 MacArthur Road, Whitehall. Also, if you know any programs that we may be able to implement, let me know.