*|MC:Fresh Food Connect | Feb22|*

GARDENER HIGHLIGHT

We talked with Heather and Terrance from Denver, Colorado to learn more about their gardening experience and why they use Fresh Food Connect!

1. How long have you been gardening?
We started with one 4x20 bed 5 years ago and scaled up to a larger scale 2 years ago.

2. What is your favorite thing to grow in your garden?
My favorite things to grow are tomatoes and watermelon; Terrance enjoys growing peppers—super hot peppers in particular. He also loves garden potatoes.

3. Do you have a secret gardening tip you'd be willing to share?
We’re big fans of experimentation, if you see a cool looking dried bean at the grocery store, try planting it! We have grown some fun things this way, lentils were something we planted from the store last year and they were fun to watch. We plan to try chickpeas next year. More practically, gardening at a higher altitude is challenging so having a shade structure has been really helpful in preventing the sun from frying our plants. We have no natural shade in our yard so that’s been a life saver.

4. Why do you choose to support Fresh Food Connect?
We live in a food desert where access to organically grown fruits and vegetables is limited. Growing food that can be provided to our community was something we were interested in to help promote food equity. Your organization makes it easy to make donations, the fact that you have folks biking to pick it up to reduce the carbon footprint is an added plus. We were able to donate over 100 pounds of food to Denver Food Rescue through your team last year and we appreciated knowing where it went to.

5. Anything else you'd like to share with the FFC community?
New gardeners can sometimes be overwhelmed by a bumper crop of something (hello zucchini) and I think few people are aware you can donate this food if you don’t have a way to preserve it. Getting this info out there is vital to not wasting the unwanted items so please keep it up!

WE'RE HIRING

We are hiring a full-time Marketing Director. If you or someone you know would be interested, check out the description here.

IN THE NEWS

Thanks to Go Solo for highlighting about the work we are doing! They are running a series on Colorado small business entrepreneurs & founders in food and beverage. Be sure to check it out!

WHAT TYPE OF PRODUCE SHOULD I GROWN AND DONATE?

We asked our operators to tell us more about the type of produce being requested in their communities. Based on the responses, we compiled a list of the most requested fruits and vegetables and wrote a blog post. As your planning your gardening, check it out.

MEET OUR OPERATORS

Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank - VA

The Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank helps to provide nutritious food to over 31,000 people through our network of 152 community partners operating more than 260 food assistance programs. In 2020, the Food Bank collected and distributed over 4.4 million pounds of food and other grocery products; the equivalent of over 3.7 million meals provided to those in need.

Learn more about their efforts, here!

Archway Communities - CO

Archway Communities elevates lives by providing access to affordable housing, food security and the supportive social services people need to thrive. Since its founding in 1995, Archway Communities, initially established as Rocky Mountain HDC, has remained steadfast to its commitment to provide service-enriched affordable housing for very low-to-moderate income families in the Denver Metro region and Colorado Springs. With 10 properties in the Denver metro and Colorado Springs, we have been developing affordable housing communities, expertly managing properties, and providing essential supportive services to individuals and families for more than 20 years. By integrating housing and supportive services, Archway Communities is helping 1,516 residents improve economically and socially. Check them out, here!

When to start planting?

Not sure when you can start your seeds? Check out this planting guide that you can tailor to your locality.

GARDENING TIP FROM

Adding diversity into your vegetable garden

February seems to be the ultimate month of waiting for a gardener. It’s too early to start most seed crops (artichokes, asparagus or other slow to grow/germinate crops being exceptions) and it’s generally not amenable to outdoor garden bed preparation due to frozen ground and snowy conditions. So instead planning is the best course of action for the gardener with time on their hands. However, for this month we’ll take a little bit of a diversion and investigate introducing some options for diversity into your vegetable garden. Learn more here.