The Giving Garden

CALLING ALL GARDENERS

            How many of you gardeners found yourselves knee high last summer in extra cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, peppers, squash, etc?  If you are an overproducing gardener who would like another place to take your extra produce, consider a simple, direct gardening project called the “Giving Garden”.  The goal of the “Giving Garden” is simple:  to donate fresh fruits and vegetables to people in one’s own community who are unable to grow or buy their own.  The benefits are many: a variety of fresh, nutritious produce for those unable to garden and the satisfaction of giving produce away instead of just composting it.  The “Giving Garden” is rooted in the heartfelt tradition of gardeners sharing a bountiful harvest with others.

            Gardeners who wish to become “Giving Gardeners” by donating produce need only to take it to the senior meal site or food pantry in their community. 

            Meals are served in Bagley (at Community Building), in Blue River (at Community Building), in Boscobel (at Tuffley Senior Center), in Cassville (at Municipal Building), in Cuba City (at V.F.W. Hall), in Dickeyville (at Community Center), in Fennimore (at Good Samaritan Center), in Lancaster (at Sunrise Valley, Building F), in Montfort (at Community Building), in Muscoda (at St. John’s School), in Platteville (at Senior Center), and in Potosi (at Public School).  Call the Center on Aging, 723-6113, or UW-Extension, 723-2125, for details on days and times of meals.  Detailed schedules can be found on the Center on Aging web page at www.co.grant.wi.gov.

            There are food pantries in Boscobel, Fennimore, Hazel Green, Lancaster, Muscoda, Patch Grove, and Platteville that would be happy to accept produce to be given to their clients.  Call the UW-Extension Office, 723-2125, for details on days and times of pantries.  A complete listing of food pantries can be found in the Grant County Food Resource Guide.

            Meal sites and food pantries have been provided with information, from the Wisconsin Nutrition Education Program with UW-Extension, on the best way to care for the fresh produce.  UW-Extension has developed a booklet, “How Does Your Garden Grow?,” which lists fruits and vegetable which are grown in Wisconsin and gives information on their selection, storage and preparation.

            Enjoy the summer gardening season and remember–you can make a difference by becoming a “Giving Gardener”.