Fall Happenings at One Valley Gardens

At the end of August, we regrettably said farewell to Miranda Poe, our Urban Agriculture Trainee since March 2025, due to loss of federal grant funds. She is now working as a Market Operator with LEAP and at Lick Run Farm’s new Crop Shop. We are most appreciative of the work she performed for us and for the warm presence she gave to our gardens’ food pantry partners, neighbors and guests.

This year, we have also added the Salvation Army’s Turning Point Women’s Shelter as one of our partner food pantries. Lt. Antonio Hodges and Salvation Army residents are helping with the harvest on most Wednesdays and distributing a portion of the harvest.

Our quarterly Adopt-A-Street neighborhood cleanup was held on Saturday, September 19th, and included in the cleanup supplies from the Clean Valley Council was a certificate from the Earth Day Celebration that we were not able to attend. The recognition for One Valley was “for the longest active Adopt-A-Street group that consistently performs four litter cleanups and reports annually”.

On September 26th, One Valley hosted a Nopales and Prickly Pear Workshop, organized by Casa Latina, and presented by Faviola, and her husband, Salvadore. They demonstrated the preparation of both hot and cold dishes with the nopales (pads). They showed us how to pick only the youngest pads that mostly had immature spines, therefore easier to remove. Salvadore used a small paring knife to remove needles around the edges, and then each needle on both flat sides (which are in a pattern at the intersection of internal veins). He then cut the pads into strips, and then diced them. For the hot preparation, he first boiled the diced pads for 5-10 minutes (which become very mucilaginous, sort of like okra), then strained them. While they were boiling, he used some oil to saute diced red onion, and then added the strained nopales and some diced tomatoes and cilantro, stirring them for a couple more minutes. For the cold salad, Fabiola essentially combined the same ingredients without boiling or sauteing. For the fruit (tuna), they used the knife to slice off both ends, and then quartered the fruit and peeled the skin and removed the seed. You can eat it raw, though they suggested adding a little sugar and/or throwing the quartered, peeled and seeded fruit into a blender.

In two weeks, we will once again be holding our annual Harvest Celebration on Saturday, October 24th, from 11:00 am until 2:00 pm at the Carver Garden (525 Loudon Ave. NW). We hope you can stop by, visit the garden, taste a variety of seasonal foods, and meet up with other supporters and partners. We also invite you to bring a dish to share.

And, as always, you are invited to come join us any Saturday, 9:00 am – noon, through the end of October to help with the harvest – sweet potatoes, fall greens, and the tapering off of the squash, tomatoes and peppers.