Sunshine Community Gardens

25 February, 2021

www.sunshinecommunitygardens.org

Gardener's Picture page

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If you are signed up to receive the Weekly Weeder and have not been receiving it, here is a troubleshooting page to help. If this doesn't help, please let Sharon at scgardenweb@gmail.com know. Thanks.

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Aftermath of a Winter Like No Other

 

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Recovery from the Deep Freeze
- Plant a Spring Garden

Re: Update Plants from Jen and Jeff

Good news. Jen and Jeff report they came through the recent severe freeze in good shape. They think they may have lost only 10-15% and remain on track to get plants to Sunshine gardeners. They will do a full inventory this weekend to cull out damaged plants and expect to open up website for orders early next week (3/1-3/5). They may push out delivery time a little bit to give plants a few more days in the hot greenhouse to get more growth on the plants. This should have little effect since soil temperatures ideal for planting will likely be later this year.

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Sunshine's Community Cat - The Beauty and the Beast

Story and Photos by Charlotte Jernigan

Are you aware that we host a community cat named Sunny?

The Beauty: Sunny is a feral who walked on to our campus five years ago, liked what he saw, and made it known that he had moved in. He lives under our trailer. He now has a multi-person care team who provide fawning attention, and vet services, as needed. He was neutered and vaccinated.

Sunny lords over his various "nests" for snoozing and enjoys a three-plus acre kingdom to patrol. His job? The occasional unlucky mouse who makes a life-ending error. (Very few bird losses have been detected, fortunately, though some may wish for FAR fewer birds in tomato season!)

Look for Sunny, crossing the parking lot, in good weather.

What better reason to observe our 3-mph speed limit than to ensure you do not squish Sunny - or a fellow human being!

For safety reasons, the 3-MPH speed limit is no joke folks.

The Beast: Sunny is a working cat, not a pet. He is not friendly to anyone that he does not know very, very well. There is a 90% chance that he will not allow you anywhere near him, but just in case he does, do not try to pet him. Please let your children and grandchildren know that he is a good kitty but not friendly. Tell them his story: The challenges of being a feral cat and being slow to trust.

Even those of us on his care team, who know his "personal space" boundaries, have found them quite easy to breach. Ouch! However, he loves to have his head scratched and he can fall for the charms of experienced cat people who put in the time. Proceed with caution. He will appear to be warming to you, only to lash out if you spook him. if you choose to give it a whirl, take it slow and easy as he will not tolerate the rushing of the trust building process.