Get Growin' for Food Gatherers! | Faith and Food | Plant a Row for the Hungry | The Gathering Farm

The Gathering Farm

To contribute to our goal of increasing the supply of healthy produce for low-income people, Food Gatherers broke ground on a new "Gathering Farm" in 2009

Food Gatherers' traditional method of food procurement is completely reliant on unpredictable donations and relatively costly purchases. Producing a portion of our own food enables us to be a more reliable and consistent donor of healthy food to our nonprofit partners throughout Washtenaw County.

A carefully selected array of vegetables are chosen to meet the nutritional needs of our clients and ensure high yields. We also preserve a sizable portion of the food in our Community Kitchen for distribution during the fall and winter months.

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In 2009:

• We harvested more than 21,000 pounds of produce from our 1/2 acre plot!
• Because of strong partnerships, volunteers and our clever Farm Manager, we were able to grow our own produce at 25-50% of the retail cost of these same items!
• We converted about 2/3 of our Roma tomatoes into healthy sauce - 12,000 servings!
• A portion of the 1,670 pounds of winter squash was roasted and converted into frozen puree used in healthy soups at our Community Kitchen - well past the growing season!

step 1: grow the spinach... step 2: gather the spinach... step 3: deliver the spinach!

 

 

A special "thanks" to the University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens for providing greenhouse space for our tender seedlings!

Alex Bloom - our favorite volunteer - points to our first truckload of compost being delivered for the Gathering Farm on April 17, 2009

For more information, including volunteer opportunities, contact us!

(photos courtesy of Andrew Miller)