Grow one extra row - Vermont Foodbank

May 13, 2009

Grow one extra row

By BILL CLARK
Rutland Herald

It's a new spring. Everything is turning green, and summer will soon be here. After a long cold Vermont winter, it's time to celebrate and be happy. Has life ever been better? Well, yes. It probably has. This year, there are storm clouds on the horizon (if not already overhead). Many don't have that good job anymore. Some may lose theirs next week. Summer jobs for students have almost disappeared. A lot of retirement savings have evaporated, and some of us won't have enough food — or money to buy it with (especially good fresh produce!).

I'm a sugar maker and veggie grower down in the Pawlet area. We've been vendors in the downtown Rutland market for years.

One morning in early April as I was going through our mail, I came across a letter from the Rutland County Women's Shelter. While I had heard of them, I wondered why they were writing to me? On opening the letter, there was a page explaining what they did for so many women and children that came from broken homes of abuse or worse. In many cases it was necessary to provide food for these women and children, which they do. However, the food is mostly all processed and non-perishable. There just weren't any fresh garden veggies or fruits. So, as it turned out, this letter had a very simple request in one line: "Could you grow one extra row just for us?"

The letter didn't ask for two or three rows or that the rows be "so many feet long." No. They just asked for an extra row of some fresh produce. I thought about that for a few minutes. For growers like us (they had also sent letters to other area growers as well) and other growers who raise one to five acres of veggies, this sounded like a pretty doable project.

My final conclusion was this: Since God left a lot of good dirt here in Vermont (even among the rocks); and since 400 years ago Native American Abenakis brought Samuel de Champlain to this great lake (Champlain) and hence white men and women settled in this valley; and since 230 years ago Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, and the Green Mountain Boys risked their lives to save this place for a poor bunch of farmers, the answer has to be an emphatic "yes!"

With that in mind, I felt we could and should do a lot better than just one row. (Since the Rutland County Women's Shelter letter, there have been similar letters from BROC and other service providers in the Rutland area.) The Vermont Farmers Market which partners every summer in Depot Park will now be involved in what will probably become a project called "Grow an Extra Row." Our market is already sending letters to all of our produce growers and food providers.

The next person I contacted was Greg Cox of Boardman Hill Farm (also a grower/vendor). Greg is the president of the Rutland Area Farm and Food Link and agreed that this was a mission worthy of doing. The Vermont Farmers Market will be partnering with RAFFL to develop a system to handle produce drop-off and delivery. The Vermont Foodbank supports this venture, is happy to share its strengths and resources to ensure a nutritious food resource is not lost, and will assist in handling surpluses that can not be absorbed by the Rutland regional charitable food sites. RAFFL's new command center will coordinate this effort; obviously there are many details yet to be worked out.

This idea can expand beyond market growers. There are hundreds of backyard gardeners in the area. Many of you have more produce than you and your neighbors can eat every year. Perhaps some of you can even grow that extra row.

So come join us in this sustaining effort. Bring your extra produce to the designated place and time (watch for announcements). Let us all make this "extra row" the longest row ever grown in Rutland County. Let us remove those storm clouds and make it possible for every Vermonter to sink their teeth into Vermont's best local grown veggies and fruits. From growing greens, corn, and potatoes to beans, tomatoes, and winter squash, there is nothing Vermonters can't do. Here is a chance to show we care and together we can make a difference by growing and giving one extra row.

For information and details on how you can help, contact Tara at RAFFL, 802-417-7331 or growarow@rutlandfarmandfood.org. Additional information will be posted on our Web site www.rutlandfarmandfood.org.

If you are a home gardener, get your name on our list. Let us know what you might have and when you think that might be ready. If you are a home farmstand operator, you can be a part of this program as well.

So do your part to grow the longest row in Vermont here in Rutland County.

Together, we can feed our community.

Bill Clark is a grower and sugar maker in Pawlet.

May 13, 2009

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