Flowers and community support are abundant at plant sale held by St. Mark Youth Group

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JAMESTOWN — St. Mark Church in Jamestown was in full bloom in early May, when the Youth Group hosted its second plant sale. The first event took place during the fall according to a socially distanced “grab and go” format; for the spring show, the parish was able to offer a full in-person sale.
“We’re hoping this will become a regular event,” said Lisa Vieira, a St. Mark’s parishioner on hand to assist for the morning. “We’ve had tremendous support from both the parish and throughout the Jamestown community.”
Although the most colorful botanical wares at the sale were the hanging planters of pansies, the vegetable trays seemed to attract the greatest interest among shoppers — perhaps because of the pride visible in the faces of the young gardeners who grew them especially for the event.
The sale was made possible by Mike Casey, a volunteer with the Youth Group, who lent both his time and his green thumb to the project.
“The kids did the transplanting a few months ago,” Casey said, gesturing toward a table of vegetables ready to be replanted in a permanent home.
The sprouts for sale included broccoli, curly kale, Swiss chard, cabbage and kohlrabi. For those unfamiliar with the last of these, Casey suggests a simple but effective recipe.
“You just cut off the stem and remove the leaves and the hard center, then dice it up,” he explained. “Then you just stir-fry it; it comes out with a very good texture, and it’s very mild.”

The parish hopes to conduct another sale soon; readers are encouraged to refer to www.stmarkjtn.org for further details.