A bumper crop of kindness and healthy veggies too

You can grow a bumper crop of kindness and healthy veggies too, when you pair a a bunch of green thumbs with the biggest hearts around.

That’s what’s happening around here, in a community plot managed by the nicest, most prolific group of gardeners in all the land.

Located right behind the St. Joseph’s Food Program and sponsored by Appleton’s First Congregational Church, the Grow A Row program invites volunteers to plant, weed, water and harvest fresh vegetables for one of the area’s busiest food assistance programs. Often, on the day it’s picked, that produce goes directly to individuals and families in need.

This year, the Grow A Row team harvested more than 6,000 pounds of produce, according to Master Gardener and Grow A Row co-ordinator Julie Gamm.

“We’re going to set a record this year,” she said. “In July, after everything was harvested, we thought, why not use the ground? We still can grow things. So, we have an experimental plot. We wondered if we could still grow beans. And yes! We can grow beans, because it’s October and we’re still harvesting beans.”

Joining Julie in the giant garden is a merry band of fellow gardeners who bring a range of experience and a universal enthusiasm for the task at hand.

Connie, for instance, showed up to help one day this summer and has been picking beans ever since.

“We called her Beanie because she always end up picking beans,” Julie said. “And every time she comes she says, ‘I picked 10 more pounds of beans!'”

Julie comes to the garden nearly every week day throughout the growing season, “because I love it,” she said. Most of the other volunteers generally come on Mondays and Thursdays.

“Mondays are big days because (the St. Joe’s Food Pantry) is open twice — once in the morning and once at night,” Julie said. “So, we need to get as much as we can, as fast as we can, into the building.”

The team grows and harvests everything you might find in a farmer’s market — eggplant, tomatoes, broccoli, onions, peppers, garlic, zucchini, cucumbers and kale. Every year, the garden looks a little different. This year, it included a somewhat exotic addition, thanks to volunteer Mark Dougherty.

“Mark has always wanted to grow okra,” Julie said. “So, here it is. It took way longer than he thought. We’re going to harvest some today. We don’t know anybody that eats okra, it’s more of a southern vegetable, but we’ll bring it in and see what happens.”

Beyond the garden, the Grow A Row program collects produce donations from growers all over the area.

“What’s really cool is we get to meet a lot of the farmers that pull up and bring their stuff in too,” Julie said. “Like Bob, who lives out in Shiocton. He drives in with his tomatoes. He drives in with his potatoes. He’s so proud because he orders his seeds from the Burpee catalogue and then he even showed me which one produces the big heirloom tomatoes All these giving people that are driving all the way here just to give buckets full of stuff. He rents a field to grow his plants. People do that and give to other people. It’s just remarkable.”

Growing season is winding down here in Wisconsin, and the Grow A Row gang has been busy harvesting the last of its produce and cleaning up for fall. Still, hidden among the alyssum, a few stubborn herbs poke up.

Julie and fellow gardener Judilyn McDermott both noticed.

“Did you see that?” Julie said. “The cilantro just won’t stop giving.”

That cilantro is in good company.