LOCAL Garden Feeding Local Folks
Now more than ever, ensuring local folks have access to the food they need is a team effort. KELT’s LOCAL Garden is honored to play a role in this effort, Since 2016, the LOCAL Garden has served as an edible-demonstration garden to teach adults and children about agriculture through hands-on learning. In the spring, local students visit the garden for field trips and assist in planting seedlings. In the summer, informational workshops offer robust and diverse lessons on pest management, raised bed construction, and more. This year, however, things look a bit different.
Amid the upheaval of the pandemic, the LOCAL Garden adjusted its focus for 2020 to be responsive and adaptive to the unprecedented increase in food insecurity. By adopting season extension practices and growing high-yield, nutrient-dense crops, the LOCAL Garden Coordinator, Laurie Burhoe, has been able to enhance the production of the garden dramatically. In just the past few months, the LOCAL Garden has grown, harvested and donated over 650 pounds of produce! From abundant potatoes to the juiciest peaches the garden has grown thus far, Laurie and her devout volunteers are ensuring that fresh, nutritious food is making its way to those who need it.
In addition to crop enhancement methods, Laurie has been experimenting with other practices of making the Garden more productive and efficient. Pests, including tomato horn worms and squash beetles, are being managed organically and naturally. By encouraging a healthy community of pollinators and other insects, Laurie has accomplished a self-regulating system in which pests are controlled by their natural predators. Other changes to the LOCAL Garden include removal of invasive Japanese knotweed to make more space for crops and the installation of an elderberry garden.
The LOCAL Garden’s exceptionally successful summer of growing has been made possible by a dedicated group of remarkable volunteers, numerous donations of seedlings, the continued generosity of Paul and Vicki Skydell, and the ongoing leadership and vision of Laurie Burhoe. Together, these individuals make a meaningful contribution to local food security efforts.
Volunteers from the 2020 season include: Sue Sergeant, Hannah Goodman, Anne McKee, Dennis Dorian, Jane Harison, Bob Arney, Phoebe Keyes, Antoni Keyes, Phoebe Keyes, Thorvald Arnell, Amy Veaulieu and Carrie Callahan.
Volunteer Spotlight: Sue Sergeant
“In the past I have delighted in helping Laurie teach elementary students how to plant beans, carrots and potatoes in the LOCAL garden beds. This summer it has been fun to be part of the garden tending, and help with harvesting the pounds of produce for the food pantry and other community sites. Every visit is new and different, always rewarding”
Sue Sergeant has been a key player of the 2020 LOCAL Garden team.