Plant Donation Program at ICF
Intervale Community Farm’s propagation greenhouse is tucked away on the east side of the farm, south of where the winter share gets distributed. The long greenhouse tables hold a shifting population of vegetable and flower seedlings, both to plant in the farm fields and to give away to people who need them.
The farm works with three main partners to distribute thousands of vegetable, herb, and flower seedlings every year. We do this both in large, planned plantings in the spring and also by donating extra seedlings from our regular weekly plantings.
The Vermont Community Garden Network has a long arm. Through VCGN, ICF vegetable starts found their way to affordable housing sites, New Farms for New Americans, the Co-op Victory Garden, the Community Teaching Garden, the Family Room Garden, and the Ethan Allen Residence. The Vermont Community Garden Network supports more than 200 gardening households and we are proud that about 1000 plants from ICF can help these great projects.
Huertas, organized through UVM, helps Latino/a farm workers in Northern Vermont and Addison County plant kitchen gardens with culturally appropriate food. Volunteers from Huertas communicate with these workers’ employers to help them find garden space and access to tools. Commercial and home growers get them the plants they want to grow. The Intervale Community Farm grew several hundred tomatoes and herbs for Huertas to distribute.
We started more than 6000 seedlings specifically for Feeding Chittenden’s spring plant give-away, delivering broccoli, melons, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, and cabbages. In late May, farmer Aly drove our truck and trailer filled with plants from the ICF up North Avenue to Burlington High School, in two different trips! We also donate to their teaching garden, the Raised Bed Project, used for educating new gardeners; this produce goes to the food shelf to make meals or to give out during food distributions. Over the last 20 years, we’ve grown more than 100,000 seedlings for this effort: a lot of vegetables!
As we eat our ICF vegetables grown on the farm we can also imagine our plants in many other families’ gardens, putting food on their tables.
Sarah Howe contributed this description of our program. Find out more about Sarah here.