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Gardeners and co-op volunteers gather at the end of the work day; every work day ends with this ritual: Grow Food Grow Health Woo!

 

Back in the gardens!

Welcome to the 2019 growing season with Growing Food Growing Health at West Middle School and Growing Food Growing Hope at First Step at Lake View.

Read on to see what we’ve been up to already, and learn about exciting changes and additions to our projects.
 
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Growing Food Growing Health at West Middle School, Lawrence

The garden at West Middle School is now starting its 10th year of growing beautiful fruits and veggies, with over 22,000 pounds harvested over the past 9 years, and so much to look forward to in 2019.

The biggest news this season is our partnership with Just Food, the food bank for Lawrence and Douglas County. This year 100% of food grown in our West garden will go directly to Just Food. Through this partnership it is our goal to help feed and educate people in our community who might not have access to the fresh, student-grown produce we can contribute. We want this to be our small part in helping improve the health of our community.
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Garden Assistant Elise, weeding the kale, is beginning her 6th year with the project.
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Red and Buttercrunch lettuces ready for planting at West.
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Ruby, now in her third year with GFGH, is one of three Garden Assistants. The assistant positions have a high level of responsibility and leadership in our project.
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Mentor Gardeners Taisha and Maggie clean up and replant the garden beds outside of the co-op. This is their second year with the project.

 
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Growing Food Growing Hope Garden at First Step at Lake View

The garden at First Step at Lake View has multiple purposes. It serves as a peaceful spot for the women and children staying there, while the women go through addiction treatment. Food from the garden goes into the kitchen to feed and nourish the residents. There are weekly opportunities for women to work in the garden and guided garden time for children in the on-site daycare.

This spring we expanded the garden with the addition of an orchard, made possible with a generous grant from United Healthcare of Kansas City.
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The crew after a day of applying compost at First Step.

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Maggie and Ruby planting onions for the First Step kitchen.

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Alex, a 4th year Garden Assistant, weeding beds before compost is applied.
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The First Step Garden after a long day’s work.

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The orchard is brand new to First Step this year!
 
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The Community Mercantile Education Foundation (CMEF), a 501(c) (3), was established in 1999 for the purpose of extending the educational outreach being done by our sister organization, The Merc Co+op. The mission of CMEF is to nourish and inspire personal well-being, strengthen community connections, and support sustainable, local food systems. We fulfill our mission by creating beautiful and productive gardens, developing youth leaders, and using food as a transformative path to health.