05/09/11 It’s back to the soil for members of the Marshall County Boys & Girls Club.
Members of the Club spend time in the early spring and then much of their time in the summer tending their section of the Community Garden next to the Plymouth Farmer’s Market. The garden will have produce for a good cause.
“Initially we go out in the spring and clean up the beds that we’re going to tend,” said Andrea Schoof of the Boys & Girls Club. “In the spring we find other agencies that would be willing to tend certain beds. We’ve been doing ours for four years now.”
After the initial clean up the kids from the Club get a lesson in farming.
“We plant vegetables and then when we harvest them we take them to the food pantry at the Neighborhood Center,” said Schoof. “We plant things like tomatoes, zucchini, squash – we’ve had watermelon and lettuce. They tend the garden in the morning three days a week in the summer, weeding and watering.”
The group has had some help on the way too with Chris Felke of Felke Florist donating seed and plants for the planting along with some plants donated by the Farmers Market. The program even took advantage of a grant opportunity this year.
“Jena Ramer applied for a grant with the Marshall County Community Foundation and we were awarded money this year,” said Schoof. “We hope to get new soil for the beds and get a closer water source. We’ve had to use the water spigot at the Farmers Market and the kids have done the best they can carrying buckets and milk jugs but we didn’t get nearly as much watering done as we would like.”
Rusty Nixon Correspondent
