The Pantry Blog

Last year we began an initiative, the first steps in a shift in focus from distribution of goods to gifting of skills. In 2014, we worked with 6 households to give them a container garden and the tools, plants and education needed to produce some great vegetables for themselves and for The Pantry. The program was successful in many ways, including putting a few hundred pounds of fresh produce into the hands of families that could use them most and teaching people some of the skills needed to take care of their gardens, but lacked in other ways, such as a high drop out rate due to illness and the transient nature of many those in deepest poverty and a lack of on-going education and partnership.

At The Pantry, we try to learn from all of our experiences and consulted with the experts this year. We came up with a more multi-pronged approach, with a greater return for investment. We are helping the community gardening movement to take root in Southeast Kent County. Working with Levi Gardner and others from Urban Roots Farm we planted over 1,000 square feet of land with everything from Arugula to Zucchini. Dozens of neighbors, staff and volunteers came to the planting on the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend and 6 more Container Gardens have been placed in backyards around our service area. Throughout the summer we have several more instructional meetings and we look forward to the harvest of theses fruits of our community’s labor.