So far, Church Community Services’ ‘Seed to Feed” program has harvested 17,500 lbs. of food for Elkhart’s food pantries

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Caring, Church Community Services, Community, Community Services, Donations, Donors, Farmers, Food, Food bank, Food Pantry, Fresh Garden Vegetables, Gardening, Helping Neighbors, Hunger, Seed to Feed, Volunteers

‘Seed to feed’ is a program through Church Community Services where fresh produce is provided to local food pantries. The idea started two years ago and last year, 55 acres of corn and beans were planted to help fund the project and a one acre vegetable garden was planted. Shortly after its start, another garden was donated and a farmer donated 3 acres of potatoes.

Volunteers at Goshen’s garden work hard to harvest the last of summer produce. Volunteers are always needed to help pick vegetables from the programs many gardens. Donations of extra food from individual gardens are also accepted.

In its first year, 25,941 pounds of fresh produce was donated. This year the goal is the same and community involvement has increased. This summer six gardens were planted and so far, 17,000 pounds of produce has been harvested. Money from the cash crops has been used to go to the Wakarusa Produce Auction to purchase additional produce.

There are two fields of income crops being grown and this year a livestock component has been added as well.

More about ‘Seed to Feed’ HERE and HERE.

Jeremy Shue, Director of the Goshen Garden, with volunteers stand proudly behind vegetables they just harvested.

‘Seed to Feed’ thanks all the volunteers who give generously of their time and their muscles to help in the gardens. Listed below are all the gardens and scheduled work days.

PLEASE CALL IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE!

Goshen Garden: 14723 CR 36, Goshen. Mondays @ 5:30pm. Coordinator: Jeremy Shue: jeremyshue@gmail.com. 574-536-2010

Bullard Garden: 22104 CR 14, Elkhart. Tuesdays @ 5:30pm. Coordinator: Kurt Bullard: Kurtbullard4444@gmail.com. 574-298-9059

CCS Garden: 902 Thomas St, Elkhart. Wed & Thurs @ 8:00am. Coordinator: Katie Jantzen: mailto:Kurtbullard4444@gmail.com. 574-295-3673 ext 122

Northwest Goshen: 538 S. Indiana Ave, Goshen. Wednesdays @ 5:30pm. Coordinator: Andrea Milne andreajillmilne@gmail.com. 574-400-5858

Heart’s Desire Garden: 3030 Old US 20, Elkhart. Thursdays @ 5:30pm. Coordinator: Dave Hochstetler Dhhooch@aol.com. 574-349-4905

See you at the gardens!

Growing Peaches in Elkhart County: the Challenges and Rewards

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cobbler, Cooking, Country, dessert, Dinner, Eat, farm life, Food, Fruit, Fruit Tree, Garden, Gardening, healthy, Insect, Japanese Beetles, Kitchen, Life, Memories, Nature, Organic, Peaches, Pests, Recipe, rural, Self-Sufficient

This was our best year ever for peaches.

Peaches! I am so excited!

Bad frosts and windstorms have taken our peaches before they reached marble size in previous years. But, this year our peaches are turning golden, pink and red. I’m dreaming of peach jams, cobblers, pies and crisps.

All summer I’ve been checking the fruit daily, feeling the peaches to see if they’ve softened. As the summer days lengthened, our tree, heavily laden with fruit, has become as gorgeous and fragrant as any flower.

I swear, I can smell the peaches ripening. Evidently so can Japanese Beetles.

Yesterday disaster struck.

Japanese beetles devouring a ‘ripe’ peach.

Some peaches were ripe.

BUT, every “ripe” peach was swarming with and being devoured by Japanese beetles. Only the ripe peaches, mind you. The hard peaches, they left alone

My husband and I grabbed ladders and sacks and began picking. We picked every peach we could. After soaking them to get rid of any insects I set them out on my counter as recommended HERE.

Some food experts recommend putting peaches into a paper bag to ripen. Others swear that the only way to have good ripe peaches is to only pick them at the moment of peak ripeness.

How to tell if peaches are ripe:

• Attached to the tree: Peaches are best picked when the fruit separates easily from the twigs. If it is hard to pull off the tree, it isn’t ripe!
• Color: Green is definitely unripe, but you can’t use red color as an indicator of how ripe a peach is. Different peach varieties have differing amounts of red blush in their natural coloring. Pick them when the ground color changes from green to yellow, orange, red (or a combination). The skin of yellow-fleshed varieties ripens to an orange tint, while the skin of white-fleshed varieties changes from greenish- to yellow-white.
• Softness: Unless you like your peaches very firm, pick your peaches with just a little “give” when gently pressed. Peaches at this stage are great for eating, freezing, and baking. Peaches won’t ripen very much after picking!
• Odor: The peaches should smell sweet and ripe

Old Fashioned Southern Peach Cobbler

After a couple of days covered on the counter, the peaches, saved from the beetles, are ripe and ready. I have enough to make a peach cobbler and a peach pie, plus some for the freezer.

I love pies and crisps, BUT nothing pairs up so well freshly ripened organic peaches as a homemade cobbler crust. This dessert is one of my favorites. Especially topped with vanilla ice cream.

   Getting ready to make peach cobbler.

SOUTHERN PEACH COBBLER FOR TWO

(Can be doubled)

FILLING:

2 cups peaches

1/2 tsp. lemon juice

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tsp. cornstarch

TOPPING:

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons flour

2 tsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. baking powder

Pinch of salt

Pinch of cinnamon

Pinch of nutmeg

1 tablespoon butter cut into pieces

2 tablespoons whipping cream

                 DIRECTIONS:

Grease small casserole dish with butter. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Peel & cut up peaches. Mix peaches and lemon juice. Mix cornstarch, brown sugar and cinnamon with peaches and put peaches into greased casserole dish.

In another bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt. cinnamon and nutmeg. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Add the cream and toss with flour mixture just until the dough is combined.

Turn the dough out onto a flour surface and knead a few times to smooth it. Then roll it out into the shape of the casserole dish. Place the dough over the filling and sprinkle with 1/4 tsp. of sugar. Bake until the top is golden and the juices are bubbling. 25 to 30 minutes.

Warm cobbler…what a great reward for all the previous hard work.

What we can learn from our Amish neighbors about staying healthy.

You don’t have to give up rich homemade desserts, like peach pie or peach cobbler to stay slim and healthy. Studies have shown that although the Amish eat a diet that includes plenty of sugar and is fairly high in fat – including saturated fat – from sources such as meat and eggs, their obesity rate is low. As a group they are healthier than most Americans. I’m sure this can be attributed to the Amish people raising their own food and performing physical labor throughout much of their day. ….Growing your own, also, gets you out in the fresh air, with free vitamin D from the sunlight at no extra charge.

Best of all…home-grown fruit is yummy!

Volunteers needed this week to help Seed to Feed’s garden (part of Church Community Services)

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Civic Engagement, Civic Service, Community, Community Church Service, Community Service, Fellowship, Fresh Air, Garden, Gardening, Good Exercise, Green bean, Helping, Helping Neighbors, Home, Philanthropic, Philanthropy, Volunteer

Our first Seed to Feed harvest — so beautiful. Much more to come!

There are some really IMPORTANT events coming up this next week. Volunteers are needed to pick green beans at the Bullard Farm on Monday, Aug 6th at 9:00 a.m.

The location is on CR17, just south of CR14 on the west side of the road. It is directly across from Sorg Jewelers. 8 to 10 volunteers are needed.

‘Seed to Feed’ also needs help picking produce and tying up tomato plants in the Goshen garden. The meet-up time is at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug 7th. The garden is located on CR 36, just east of CR 33 by about 4-5 blocks on the north side.  As they start to get good yields from the garden, ‘Seed to Feed’ wants to thank all the volunteers who come out to help and to welcome our newest volunteers who are joining our weekly updates.

Thanks to the Elkhart community for supporting the “Seed to Feed” program.

When the Seed to Feed program started, there were only two people and an idea. Now the group has 40 members and 70 acres of land. Dave Hochstetler is the coordinator for the Seed to Feed program, which is trying to grow fresh produce for Church Community Services, an Elkhart food pantry. The group held its first harvest on Tuesday with volunteers coming out to help pick.

The garden is one acre, full of peppers, onions, corn, bell peppers, tomatoes and green beans. They have 70 acres of land total, with some acres full of crops they can sell and use the proceeds to buy produce at auction.

Volunteers working in the garden in Goshen.

While the program only extends to Church Community Services, its organizers hope to expand it so they can help all of the 30-plus pantries in the Elkhart County area.

The Future Farmers of America chapters for both NorthWood and Fairfield high schools have also become involved in the project. Students from the Future Farmers of America from both Northwood and Fairfield came out to Tuesday’s harvest.

Director of Food Services Mary Kneller came out on Tuesday to pick vegetables. Since CCS feeds about 2,500 families a month, it would take a large project to be able to feed all of them fresh vegetables.

“This is self-sustaining,” she said. “It’s exciting.”

The group started last winter and planted the seeds in late May and will continue harvesting throughout the summer and will be looking for people to help. They are also looking for other people to donate land they can use for gardening.

Kneller said she didn’t know what to expect when they first started the program. Right now the group has 70 acres and hope to grow that number until they have enough land to be able to feed all the hungry families in the area.

“It’s Elkhart County taking care of Elkhart County,” she said.

More about ‘Seed to Feed’ HERE and HERE.

Related articles

• County farmers and ‘Church Community Services’ join forces to feed the hungry (elkhartcountygrassrootshub.wordpress.com)
• Church gardens become a growing ministry (timesdispatch.com)