Helping Hands in the Garden

ChemTreat staff after a day of work harvesting cucumber and squash in the Community Kitchen Garden.

It’s been a great, but hot, week in the Community Kitchen Garden. This week we took two deliveries to Feedmore’s Community Kitchen for a combined total of 478 lbs. This one week’s deliveries exceeded our year-to-date donations. Welcome summer!

Here’s what we delivered: beets: 73 lbs., squash/zucchini: 324 lbs., celery: 38 lbs., kale: 10 lbs., eggplant: 15 lbs., cucumbers: 10 lbs., okra: 1 lb., cherry tomatoes: 3 lbs., peppers: 2 lbs., Roma tomatoes: 2 lbs.

Our new year-to-date total: 939 lbs.

The very warm weather and timed irrigation seem to be giving our veggies an extra boost, and this boost has helped put us ahead of where we were this time last year. This week we received help from a group of ChemTreat volunteers. In addition to mulching, weeding, and fertilizing, they helped us bring in another large harvest, bringing us closer to our first thousand pounds of fresh produce donated.

The Youth Volunteer Summer Program begins next week, which will bring dozens of teen volunteers to the Community Kitchen Garden to help out and join in the fun. Youth Volunteers also work in the Children’s Garden and other areas. Stay tuned for more updates on our youth volunteers.  Also, we have family volunteering opportunities in the Children’s Garden too. Our next family volunteer day is Sunday, July 12, 9 a.m. -11 a.m. If you are interested in volunteering, please fill out a Group Volunteer Application.