FRONT LAWN FOOD
It is Front Lawn Food season again – hooray! For those of you not familiar with this program (now in its third year), Greenagers provides ten organic vegetable gardens to South County families each year. Gardens comprise three 3′ x 8′ raised beds (boxes are constructed of locally harvested and milled lumber) and are planted with a bountiful array of veggies and herbs. Gardens are installed and planted by Greenagers youth and community volunteers. This year, garden recipients will also receive a gardening handbook complete with gardening tips, soil information, and healthy and tasty recipes for preparing the garden produce. Garden installations will happen on Saturday, April 28th and Sunday, April 29th. Gardens will be planted on Saturday, May 26th.
Garden recipients are selected through a lottery. The only requirements that need to be met in order to add your name to the hat are that you (a) live in South County full-time and (b) have a child (or children) living at home.
This year, Greenagers will be asking garden recipients to make a small monetary contribution towards the cost of materials (a sliding scale of $20 and up, according to ability to pay, with the amount to be determined by the garden recipients themselves). Second, garden recipients will be asked to volunteer their time installing, planting, or helping to care for the other Front Lawn Food gardens. Greenagers will work with garden recipients to select good days for folks to help their neighbors. We are figuring on 6-8 hours of volunteer time over the course of the summer. Third, garden recipients will be asked to sign a simple contract stating their commitment to care for the garden and to harvest and enjoy the produce.
Please contact Greenagers if you would like to submit your name to the garden lottery AND/OR would like to volunteer on the installation or planting days. The garden lottery will close on Friday, March 30th.
Our hearty thanks go to the Center for Peace through Culture, the Green Pastures Fund at Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, the Markham Nathan Fund, Greylock Federal Credit Union, and the Berkshire Co-op Market for their generous support of this program.