Mountainside Hospital is taking off the latex gloves and showing off its green thumb. The Mountainside Health Foundation, along with Glen Ridge master gardener Patrice Kelly, has created a new community garden on Mountainside Hospital property, directly across from the emergency room entrance.
The garden project, appropriately named, “A Lot to Grow,” will be used as a community learning center to teach nutrition and healthy eating habits. The pesticide-free garden will grow only organic produce, and employ low impact, sustainable garden practices. It will contain cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans, green peppers, lettuce, squash and zucchini. The garden is designed with raised beds, constructed from raw materials donated by local garden centers.
The produce will be distributed to local soup kitchens such as Bethel Rehoboth Meal Center in Bloomfield, The First Seventh Day Adventist Church of Montclair Soup Kitchen, The Salvation Army Soup Kitchen in Montclair, and Toni’s Kitchen, Montclair.
If you can dig it and would like to volunteer, please visit www.mshfoundation.org/garden. Regular volunteer summer hours will be Mondays from 6:00 p.m. until dusk and Thursdays from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. While anyone can volunteer, the “A Lot to Grow” is not intended for people to grow their own vegetables.
(Photo courtesy of Virginia Citrano of MyVeronaNJ)
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