Member profile for DonnaWeems

• Name: Donna Weems
• Location: Morgantown, WV
• Gardening experience: I'm a master gardener
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I am the garden coordinator for the Forks-of-Cheat Forest community garden. There are nine gardeners from the 17 family community. I coordinate the maintenance activities that are needed to keep our garden growing, such as maintaining the electric fence that keeps the deer and other varmints at bay, mowing the garden area, keeping track of garden expenses, organizing improvement projects and troubleshooting groundhog break in's. So far we have installed water spigots at each family's garden, built a garden shed for our tools, and installed solar electricity to keep the fence charged.

I grow vegetables, flowers, fruit and berries for my friends and family. What we can't eat during the growing season, I can, freeze, dehydrate, and use my basement as a root cellar. Right now I have over 50 jars of raspberry, blueberry, blackberry and peach jam, 20 quarts of tomatoes, 20 jars of dill pickles, 30 pints of applesauce, a freezer full of green beans, pesto, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries, and a cellar full of beets, winter squash, and sweet potatoes. I still have to harvest the red and white potatoes.

Forks-of-Cheat Forest, as the name implies, is located in a forest. We have a 90 acre Nature Preserve that is mostly forest, but there is also a large field (about a mile from our homes), which has been designated for garden and farm use. We donated the development, mining and timber rights away to the WV Land Trust so that the Nature Preserve will be protected forever. The field is where we have our community garden.

The soil is poor, so I compost, mulch, and have found sources of manure to give the plants a boost. My husband and I are always trying something new. This year we successfully grafted an heirloom apple (from a Rambo apple tree close to our home) onto our established grimes golden tree. Last year my husband built a small raised garden bed. It works great for growing lettuces, garlic and spinach.

I attended the Mother Earth News Fair in Seven Springs PA this year. I was the lucky winner of a beautiful Grainmaker mill. In the future I would like to try and grow some of my own grains and start a chicken flock for the meat, eggs, and the help they might provide to improve the garden soil. I am a stay at home mom, mother of a 14 year old son, and my husband takes care of the WVU Core Arboretum. Gardening has been a joy for us over the years. I am not sure what I enjoy most, the process of tilling, planting, nurturing, and growing or preserving, preparing and eating our own organically grown food.