Healthy Food for Our Community

For the second year in a row, The Deviled Eggery Garden Network has provided regular delivery of produce, flowers, and herbs to the Una Vida Tuesday Market. We’ve donated 33 types of produce, for a total of nearly 1,200 pounds, which means nearly 4,800 servings were added to the tables in the community. The experiences and relationships built through this work provide even more benefit to the community. One of our first volunteers, Dawn, joined the network to grow food, but she needed help to get her garden beds into shape for planting. Deviled Eggery advisor and volunteer Lamar and volunteer Liz worked with Dawn to underwire, fill with soil, fertilize and irrigate Dawn’s raised beds. Using donated plant starts and seeds, Dawn cared for her garden and provided regular donations of zucchini, tomatoes, herbs, peppers and lemon cucumbers to the Una Vida Tuesday Market.

Lamar also volunteers with MentorMe. Lamar’s MentorMe mentee, Gabby, and her grandmother, Teresa attended the plant sale in April, and later planted flowers and vegetables in both Gabby’s and Teresa’s gardens. Not only did the produce help fuel donations to the Una Vida Tuesday Market, but with gleaning in mind, Lamar arranged for the apples on Gabby’s tree to be used in an Apple Pie Workshop at the MentorMe center, teaching seven mentor/mentee pairs to make apple pie.

Often, the connections formed through sharing plants lead to more sharing. The pumpkin plants sold to Audrey were planted and lovingly tended, producing a whopping 18 pumpkins for her family and friends. Some of those pumpkins will be deseeded, with the seeds distributed to network members, leading to future donations. And the fruit of the pumpkin itself will be turned into delicious baked goods and shared with volunteers.

The Deviled Eggery Garden Network itself provided an opportunity for network members to learn and bond over the shared experience of growing food. Through work parties and ongoing activities, the garden was planted, nourished, harvested, and replanted. Thanks to donations from Cottage Garden Nursery hundreds of pounds of produce make their way to the community through Una Vida’s food distribution.