Community Gardens Offer Something For Everyone

Community Gardens

OFFER SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE

By BethAnne Brink-Cox, House and Home Feature Writer

When it seems like winter will never end, paging through seed catalogs and planning a garden is a marvelous way to bring spring a little closer and a little sooner. No one knows that better than Seed to Feed, a program of Church Community Services in Elkhart County.

Its mission is to establish food security by providing fresh, local produce to those in need, and they work alongside the organization’s food pantry to achieve this. Gabby Parrish, Seed to Feed director, said the program began in 2011 with two gardens and two cash crop fields.

These days, there are three kinds of gardens: Production Gardens, which create garden plans for growing produce that will be given to food pantries in Elkhart County; Community Learning Gardens, which create garden plans for educating the community in the art of growing produce for healthy eating, while donating excess crops to Seed to Feed; and Partner Gardens, a separate entity which develops garden plans and provides its own resources for gardening, while still donating excess food to Seed to Feed.

There is also a 30 by 100 foot greenhouse now. Threequarters of this space is used to grow produce year ‘round; at this time of year it’s cool weather crops, such as spinach and lettuce, with no artificial lighting. For later seasons there is a big focus on crops such as tomatoes and “Beans! We can never get enough beans!” Parrish said.

The other quarter of space is used to grow plants that will be set out at the proper time–as many as 20,000 plants will be needed. Parrish said the greenhouse is next door to one of their non-profit pantries, which serves an average of 2,500 clients/families every month.

“We have walk-in coolers and freezers now, so we can store what is raised

and increase our ability to provide fresh locally grown produce. Fresh vegetables are often out of reach for low and fixed income families, and we wanted to change that. I think it’s great that many farmers markets now accept WIC cards and other supplemental income to make fresh vegetables easier to attain,” said Parrish. “Last year we raised 34,000 pounds of fresh produce for our pantries and food banks, and it is our core group of volunteers and teen interns who do the biggest share of the gardening and harvesting!”

There are also learning/sharing gardens that are planted where people can pick what they need in exchange for helping to weed and otherwise care for the gardens.

This is reminiscent of the WWII Victory Gardens, meant to reduce pressure on public food supply. They were considered civil morale boosters, helping gardeners to feel empowered by their own contributions of labor and rewarded by the produce grown.

Parrish said there are internships offered three times a year–spring, summer and fall, with the new spring season starting Feb. 28. Teens 15-18 can apply for these positions on the website (seedtofeed@churchcommunityservices.org) No matter what the interns go on to do, they’ll learn the skills of sustainable gardening, living, and healthy eating. “The interns learn composting and self sustained gardening, and they grow all the plants in the greenhouse for the gardens. Several times during each 12 week growing period, the Purdue Extension Teen Cuisine Program comes in and teaches the interns how to prepare a meal from what we currently have available, and then that’s their dinner: we provide a meal each day they work, but spinach enchiladas they have made themselves really captivates them,” said Parrish. The summer session has not been set yet. Interested teens can apply for the spring session, there are still slots available or for the fall. These are paid internships.

The teens will have a smaller plot to grow a production style garden, and their produce will go to the Elkhart Farmers Market in the summer.

There are a couple of plotted gardens available for a small fee, for those wanting their own garden, but everyone is encouraged to come to the gardens where they can pick whatever they need.

“Our average volunteers are retirees,” said Parrish, “people who love to garden, but maybe can’t take on the entire work of it anymore. We have 300 volunteers from Seed to Feed and other non-profit organizations. I mean, the gardens are planted and harvested weekly!”

Parris said the program is partnered with Elkhart County Schools, and it also received support from some specific teachers at Ivy Tech.

She said there is also lots of help and support available for those wanting to start their own gardens, from helping plot the best crops for the soil and light available to giving people seeds and starts. “There’s nothing like sitting down to a salad you raised yourself,” she said. n

203 Wayne St., Middlebury, IN (574) 825-8824