For the first time ever, we grew and harvested fresh produce throughout the winter, thanks to improved infrastructure and evolving farming practices. Just as the crops were ready to pick, we discovered that Mill City Grows in Lowell was in short supply of fresh, locally grown vegetables for its nutritional cooking classes.

Mill City Grows fosters food justice in Lowell by increasing community access to healthy, fresh food. It manages urban farms and community gardens, sells fresh produce through a mobile market, and provides educational workshops on gardening and cooking.

During the winter, Mill City Grows has a difficult time supplying its cooking classes with enough of its own produce. As a trial, Gaining Ground contributed vegetables for several of the free farm to table classes attended by a dozen families. We were delighted with the positive feedback from the staff: “With your spinach and shallots, we made a soba noodle stir fry which was delicious. Families loved everything and we also learned how to blanch and freeze greens. Each family took home a baggie of frozen spinach for their home as well!”

We now hope to expand to weekly distributions to Mill City Grows during the early spring and late fall. It is exciting to share our increased supply of produce with a like-minded organization that provides fresh, healthy food and community-building cooking classes to appreciative families.