BUFFALO, N.Y. — A growing partnership between the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens and several Western New York organizations is moving even further along with a new addition to the gardens.
This summer is the first growing season for a new community farm garden at the Botanical Gardens. They're growing enough vegetables for 13,000 servings. The fresh produce is donated to local groups that in turn get the food to people in need in the region.
The program started in 2017 with a smaller plot of land on the grounds of the Botanical Gardens. It's still being used right now, but the new, larger space allows for more crops and more variety.
Back in November, staff and volunteers transformed a courtyard that was only used for storage. They cleaned things up and built raised beds to fill with soil and compost. Then this past spring, they started planting.
This week, they're getting ready for their first harvest and deliveries. The Botanical Gardens work with Gerard Place, which serves Buffalo's Bailey-Delevan community — one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city and a food desert.
Gerard Place hands out the donated, fresh produce as part of their own food pantry distributions and food giveaways.
"A partnership like this with the Botanical Gardens is essential for a community like this that has no grocery stores. Public transportation is very expensive. People have to walk to a grocery store that could be miles away," said David Zapfel, president and CEO of Gerard Place.
They also partner with Groundwork Market Garden and the Massachusetts Avenue Project.
"This to me is about community. It's about thinking beyond your own organization and what your own organization can do," said Erie Grajek, chief operating officer at the Botanical Gardens.
They look to the community for suggestions on what to grow. This year it's tomatoes, spinach, and kale along with culturally appropriate produce like hot peppers, collard greens, and bitter melon to name a few.
"We've also been very thoughtful of how we grow them. We've been growing a lot of an item instead of a bunch of little crops, so it makes it more efficient to care for just a few different crops rather than a whole bunch. It's more meaningful and more impactful," said Grajek.
Gerard Place also has a chef that teaches culinary arts classes to show people how to cook with fresh ingredients and to encourage them to try new types of veggies.