Garden to Table, a program of the Eagan and Lakeville Resource Centers, kicked off its second year offering free garden plots to food shelf clients.

Last week, Garden to Table participants came together to learn from a master gardener, eat a meal made by a personal chef consisting of seasonal produce and items available at the food shelf, and work together on their 5x20 foot garden plots.

A Garden to Table monthly event is held each month April - September. The menu and presentation keeps pace with the season and the stage of the garden, from planting to harvesting and from cold-weather crops to late-season produce. 

The idea for Garden to Table came from Lisa Horn, executive director of the Eagan and Lakeville Resource centers, and its mission to "provide fresh, wholesome and nutritious food to people who rely on food shelf food support."

Horn is especially proud that well over half of the food supplied by the food shelf is fresh. "Why shouldn't we provide the types of foods that most of us would want to eat ourselves," she asked.

Horn has a background in public health, and when she became aware of potential grant opportunities, she began making the necessary contacts to bring the program to life.

Garden to Table is supported by grants from Dakota County, through the Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP), and also from the St. Paul Area Synod.

Area businesses also are involved; for example, Gertens provides seeds at well below retail cost, Gopher Resource donates compost, and the City of Eagan drops off wood chips to use for paths and mulch. 

Besides two 25-plot garden locations for food shelf clients - one at Oak Hill Church and another on city-owned land adjacent to Woodhaven Park and Mount Calvary Lutheran Church -  local churches and businesses have jumped on the Garden to Table bandwagon and have planted 'mission gardens,' the harvest of which is donated to the food shelf. 

Tom Hedges, Eagan city administrator, said, "The City of Eagan is a proponent of establishing garden plots on various park property. The ability to provide land for the Eagan Resource Center to grow fresh produce is a great collaboration for such a great need."

There also are 15 garden plots and a mission garden in Lakeville at Trinity Evangelical Free Church. 

Horn said, "I often wonder how hard it might be to have no control over meeting your basic needs, [such as food]." Garden to Table, which Horn calls "a sustainable approach to eliminating hunger," allows people to have a measure of control by deciding what to grow and taking an active role in planting and harvesting.  

Jocelyn Brieschke of Burnsville is planting a garden again this year. This single mother of three appreciates the opportunity that the Garden to Table program provides her to serve fresh, affordable, organic produce to her family. "If you're not rich it's hard to feed your family healthy food," Brieschke said. 

Groups and individuals are welcome to become involved in Garden to Table, either by hosting a mission garden, helping in a mission garden, co-gardening with food shelf families or participating in garden work days. 

Call  651-688-3189 or email garden@eaganrc.org  for more information.