Crates to Plates Garden Holds First-Ever Volunteer Workday

Lucky’s Farmers Market hosted the first-ever Crates to Plates Garden workday on March 14th, 2015.  In 4 hours, 109 milk crates were fully assembled (bagged and soiled), and a base-layer of 480 crates were set-up.

23 volunteers participated in cutting the landscaping fabric, fashioning woven baskets, lining the milk crates, filling the crates with soil, arranging the grid of crates, and planting the garden’s first seeds. Staff members of the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture led volunteers in their respective tasks.

“Victory” plants planted by children to close out the work day included rudbeckia, Echinacea, thyme, cilantro, red leaf and green leaf lettuce, 2 strawberry plants, and 4 Johnny Jump-ups.

Produce grown from Crates to Plates Garden will be used in Camp Salsa; a collaborative project with The Family Impact Center, C.A.R.E., Centro Latino, Small Businesses Development Center, and Douglass High School. This project will employ at-risk youth. For 8 weeks during the summer, program participants will have garden-based classes at the Lucky’s Garden and The Urban Farm. The second half of the program, students will sell salsa they made from produce grown in the milk crate garden at Lucky’s.