Garden produce welcomed at food shelf

Hey gardeners!  Got green beans coming out of your ears?  More zucchini than you can handle?  If so, the Cook County Food Shelf wants to see you…..and your vegetables.   

 

Gardening, by all accounts, is a rewarding pursuit.  Sharing what you grow is also rewarding, and some area gardeners are doing just that, donating their extra produce to the local food shelf. 

 

“We got a bucket of carrots and a bucket of Swiss chard from a couple of the gardeners at WTIP, and we got I think some additional tomatoes.”

 

That’s Kristine Bottorff, office manager at the First Congregational Church in Grand Marais, where the food shelf is located.  She recently posted the request for produce on behalf of the food shelf, and is herself a gardener. 

 

“And that’s kind of why I was thinking of it. I have some extra produce myself and sometimes I’m able to sell it at market on Saturday mornings and sometimes there’s extra at another time of the week and so it’s nice to be able to have a different place to bring it.”

 

The food shelf is located in the lower level of the First Congregational Church, at 3^rd Avenue West and 2^nd Street, in Grand Marais.  Bottorff says that demand for food is highest at the beginning of each month, but there’s always interest in fresh vegetables.

 

“Especially the vegetables that people can recognize, and then if it isn’t something that people recognize then it’s really helpful to have some preparation tips, recipes, or something like that.” 

 

To donate produce to the food shelf, stop by the First Congregational church, Mondays between 10:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., or call Kristine at 387-2113.