What happens to all of the beautiful produce grown in the Herb Garden? Some is served right here in our café. The rest is donated to the community. This year, St. Francis of Assisi Church in Crown Heights received several carloads of fresh vegetables—including beets, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, okra, lettuce, and kale—and distributed it to people in need via their food pantry. “People are always grateful for wholesome food, but everyone was especially excited to hear that it was grown locally, right in the Garden,” says Jerome Philip, a church member and BBG volunteer who coordinated the donation. The rainy, mild summer made for a great growing season this year, says curator Caleb Leech. Philip was able to deliver several station wagon-loads throughout the summer, and Leech says he will likely have one more harvest of leafy greens still to come.
In mid-summer, cucumbers, okra, beets, okra, amaranth, and basil were abundant.
Melanie Rose Wilson, a horticulture intern at BBG, has been harvesting greens and other produce in the Herb Garden this summer. It is then delivered to a local church food pantry.
Jerome Phillip, a volunteer in the Herb Garden and member of St. Francis of Assisi Church in Crown Heights, delivered several car loads of fresh produce to his church's food pantry, where it was distributed to people in need.
An early summer Herb Garden harvest included lettuce, kale, and green onions.