>>I am a really good weeder.

I know it's hard, but a lot of people can't go down on their knees and crawl around.

That's the best part.

If you crawl around in this soil, it's all worms.

It's just beautiful, beautiful worms.

I come here because it is just so relaxing and I find a lot of peace here.

>>My favorite volunteer duty for this garden is harvesting some of the produce, just because I know it's going into the kitchen and we feel like we're eating so much better and it's very much more flavorful than what we can buy at the store.

>>I started volunteering in the garden when everything got closed down because of COVID, and I figured I could this is something I could do, I'd be outside.

We still, you know, if we were in close contact, had a mask it's good exercise and it's out in the fresh air and so I just took that on as the thing I was gonna do.

>>Right now we're walking through the resident portion of the garden.

They can grow food in their own plot.

Some of them were farmers and so this is a nice transition for them to grow their own food still.

Lots of them like to take their own food back to their cottage or to their apartment and cook for themselves or you know it's a pretty good walk back to the main building.

So along the way there's plenty of neighbors to share with.

>>Oh yeah it definitely looks like a nice productive garden area >>Along this edge I like to grow herbs, some trap crops like amaranth I'll put some sunflowers here as well as some native plants and pollinators and that really helps balance the whole ecosystem and just makes everything grow a lot better over in the garden.

>>Nice, so let's take a visit to the production garden.

>>Right now we've got some cabbage and that overwintered, we had some things that did not overwinter like that one really bad night that we had, that pretty much did the chart in, but I was able to keep some arugula, some spinach, the collards we just took in.

We've also got some lettuce going now.

I have to keep an eye on that.

If it gets 28 or below I'm gonna get some buckets on top of that and protect it.

>>I know, we are having a weird, weird season, so >>Right, it's a lot of back and forth but if I put the netting on that's gonna knock off a little bit of the frost and then there's nothing out here that isn't good with the cold and then I've got blankets staged on each row.

That way those can go on quickly.

>>So you have your residents and they have their own gardens and I know how this is split up into two different sections.

So does the residents kind of help you out as far as volunteers?

>>Yes, and I couldn't ask for anything better really than to have that kind of help and assistance.

They take a lot of pride in both their individual garden and helping with something that helps the whole community.

>>What opportunities do they have helping in the production garden?

>>They can help with harvesting, they can help with seeding trays and just generally anything that we do in the garden.

And they can choose their own schedule.

Some of them prefer to do like a day of the week and they will come every week and then others are on the periphery and they will, you know, have a looser schedule.

And then even some people do things like make art for the garden.

We have a woman who makes false wasps nest.

She crochets them and knits them and we hang them in the shed or the greenhouse to kind of deter wasps in there.

We have other residents that will bring their compost to the compost pile and there's a wood shop here.

And so residents in the wood shop have made bluebird feeders.

They've made the seedling frame for the netting to protect seedlings where we harden them off.

I depend on everybody very much and it really shows with what we're able to produce here.

>>What is the production rates for the kitchen >>As is in poundage?

>>Yes.

>>Like the first year we only had 4,000 square feet and we were still getting started and still gathering supplies.

So the first year we did about 2200 pounds.

Right now we've gotten 4,500 pounds and I go by their fiscal year, so I'll go April to March.

So we're almost done with the year and we're about at 4,500 pounds.

>>Wow, so it is a nice productive garden.

>>Yes.

>>It's simple fresh food and that's what our focus has always been how that farm ties into the kitchen program.

It just brings the fresh to the highest level.

Being a formerly trained chef, I've always wanted to for probably the past 25 years, start an actual farm to table program utilizing the land that's on the campus.

It all really started for two purposes.

One was to obviously give the chefs the greatest and freshest food to work with.

The other part is the relationships that the farm built with the residents and some staff members allowing them to be outdoors and work with Jen, I think it keeps them young keeps them vibrant and it's wonderful for both the staff and the residents and the community.

Typically Jen and the chef will get together.

They'll talk about how much is going to be produced.

Jen is excellent about weighing the product so she'll know and let us know how many pounds are coming in.

We try to utilize those product in different aspects.

So in the past we've made tomato sauce.

We've made tomato pie, which is extremely popular.

We've even made Bloody Mary mix for the residents to utilize the product.

So yeah, it's pretty strategic in that way.

Knowing the amount that comes in and how much we need to use.

>>Starting in January, I'll meet up with the chef and we'll talk about what he wants for his dishes for the upcoming spring season.

And then we'll pretty much go back and forth about what can be successful out here.

Because sometimes mother Nature makes the decisions for us so really we can, we can really come up with something good.

>>So how do you keep everything organized?

>>When I meet with the chef, I'll bring a list myself and then he'll have in mind what he wants and we'll just go row by row and talk about it and really talk about what varieties he would like, take for instance, tomatoes, like he wants a slicer tomato.

And then I also know that like I will choose a bush tomato as opposed to a vine tomato just so that it is easier for me to harvest.

>>A lot better to maintain.

>>Yes, a lot easier to maintain.

>>And what other kinds of veggies do you get to have for the kitchen >>A lot of the times we'll do gold beets, red beets we'll do different kinds of kale.

They always have a really good curly kale salad or a beet salad.

The residents love green beans and potatoes >>And knowing that you're having to produce crops for the residents here.

So how do you manage pests?

>>We do integrated pest management.

We like to garden with wildlife out here.

So you know, a lot of our employees are parasitic wasps.

We grow a lot of mountain mint.

Like I've never had to spray the tomatoes because the mountain mint is down this center aisle and that pretty much takes care of all the tomato horn worms.

>>Well, it's nice to have mother nature on your side when it comes to pest management >>Right, right.

If she's gonna get us with the weather, then you know, she can give us some insects to do some work.

>>Thank you for giving me a tour of this garden.

What a great opportunity for people to come out and not only produce their own food where they know where it's coming from but to get outside and be active.

>>Yes, it's a great opportunity for them to get outside and I appreciate what they do and I'm so glad you were here today.

>>When people come to visit me, I always bring them to the garden because I'm so proud of it.

We've really got it well organized and Jennifer has done a great job of making sure that the plants get what they need.

It's just a really it's a wonderful thing for this institution.