Garden to Table Program Doubles Harvest in Second Year

The second year of the Eagan and Lakeville Resource Center's (ERC) Garden to Table program is drawing to a close as the weather cools and most crops complete the growing season.

Lisa Horn, ERC program director, said between the several missions gardens and the adoptable plots, so far this year more than 18,000 pounds of fresh produce has been either grown by or provided to food shelf clients.

With a few crops still coming in, the season total will easily more than double the 9,255 collected last year. 

ERC Program Manager Mary Freeman says the recent frost resulted in a premature end to much of the growing season, but there are still "some eggplant, brussel sprouts, a few tomatoes, carrots, and squash" to be harvested.  

Horn reports that, thanks to the gardening program and ERC partnerships with local businesses, the amount of fresh foods provided to food shelf clients has gone from 33 to more than 50 percent. This includes produce, deli items, dairy, eggs, bakery, cheese and yogurt. 

The fresh food program has been so successful, she says, that in addition to their monthly appointments at The Pantry, people who need food support can also stop by once every week to pick up fresh items.

"When those things are available, people choose them," says ERC Communication Coordinator Nancy Wester, who herself grew green beans, carrots, cilantro, basil, beets and jalapenos for the food shelf this year. 

Looking to the future

Horn hopes to see the program doubling again next year and would love to see more churches, businesses, and schools plant a garden. She suggested families can also get involved by dedicating a few rows in their backyard garden for the benefit of the food shelf.

She points to groups such as the volunteers from Crossroads Church who planted their first mission garden at their Eagan campus and have provided more than 3,000 pounds of fresh produce to the food shelf so far this season.

According to Crossroads volunteer gardener Leanne Bondhus, it all started when one church member asked a simple question: Why were they "mowing grass on such nice flat land when it would be such a good place for a garden and there are lots of hungry people who could use good, healthy, fresh food?" 

Bondhus estimates that there were 25-30 people who volunteered this summer, saying, "some families came with the kids helping, and some with kids in baby carriers watching all the activity.  Most of the volunteers were from our church, but we also had a family in the neighborhood that joined us every week because they wanted to help provide for the food shelf."

Horn also would love to see a lot more garden plots across Dakota County for families who would like to grow their own produce. This year, ERC was able to provide 65 garden plots, in three locations, for food shelf clients to plant and harvest.

Also on her wish list is a program coordinator whose sole focus is managing and expanding the Garden to Table program. 

Mmmmm. . . 

Personal chef Ginni Lambert, who volunteers her time teaching Garden To Table clients how to use the bounty of their plots, provided Patch with a recipe for ratatouille using lots of end-of-the-season ingredients (see attached PDF).