This third year saw a huge addition of numerous volunteers, though we did not have as much access to farmers' fields for gleaning as we did in 2010. This year with the help of about 45 volunteers from a number of Lake County churches, synagogues, and community organizations, we harvested over 1200 pounds of fresh produce which were donated to COOL Food Pantry in Waukegan and Avon Township Food Pantry in Round Lake Park.
An addition this year, in which Ten Thousand Gardens was involved in developing, was the Manna Garden Initiative which provided a Free Farmer's Market in south Waukegan at Trinity AME Church. Trinity is located in a food desert (a place where there is no easy access to a grocery store providing healthy food options). Produce gleaned through Ten Thousand Gardens efforts - back yard gardens and gleaning, along with numerous other gardens (Long Grove Community Church, The Chapel - Libertyville, The Chapel - Barrington, Church of the Redeemer in Highland Park) and businesses and agencies around Lake County (Northern Illinois Food Bank. PeaPod, Whole Foods, Lewis Market) helped serve over 1300 persons with about 15,000 pounds of produce. This effort will increase in 2012 with the plan of finding more sources for gleaning of fresh produce.
An initiative being developed over the winter months will involve connecting with a number of churches that have unused land that might be made available for community gardens and production farms. Some good conversations are occuring.
The 2010 Harvest is in!
This has been an exciting second year for Ten Thousand Gardens. Backyard gardeners and gleaning volunteers harvested over 4000 pounds of produce – four times as much as we were able to provide food pantries last year. We were able to help the Avon Township Food Pantry, PLAN Food Pantry in Round Lake Beach, and COOL Food Pantry in Waukegan.
This year we saw the planting of the Avon Township Food Pantry Garden and Community Gardens, which was a project Ten Thousand Gardens was instrumental in getting off the ground by coordinating efforts from Avon Township, Prairie Crossing Learning Farm, College of Lake County, and University of Illinois Extension. Key people from each of these organizations helped Avon Township put together a plan. This first year was a success.
Backyard gardeners also were involved. At least a dozen registered to give produce from their gardens, but many more gave from their bounty. In all backyard gardeners donated over 500 pounds of produce.
We organized our gleaning efforts this year and worked out regular times of gleaning on Friday mornings at the Prairie Crossing Farms in a partnership between the Prairie Crossing Learning Farm and Ten Thousand Gardens. Four farms allowed volunteers from Libertyville Covenant Church, North Suburban Mennonite Church, Avon Township Food Pantry, and residents from Prairie Crossing to go out into their fields under the supervision of Eric Carlberg and Prairie Farm Corps interns to harvest around 3500 pounds of produce. We are grateful for Prairie Crossing Learning Farm, Sandhill Organics, Dea-Dia Organics, and Wild Good Farm for allowing us to glean in their fields - thank you.
Produce harvested and donated this year included: tomatoes, beets, cabbage, carrots, kohlrabi, chard, kale, lettuce, scallions, green onions, spinach, radishes, turnips, cauliflower, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, broccoli, apples, peaches, green beans, wax beans, peppers, and assorted other vegetables.
Thank you all for a great season. We look forward to an even more bountiful 2011 harvest.
Harvest 2009
This, our first year, has been a great year so far. A number of families have donated produce from their backyard gardens and we have been glad to deliver spinach, beans, cucumbers, zucchini, and broccoli to Avon Township Food Pantry in Round Lake Park, C.O.O.L Food Pantry in Waukegan, and the PLAN Food Pantry in Round Lake Beach. Not only have the food pantry personnel been grateful for the donations, but also recipients have expressed thanks for being able to receive fresh produce.
One of the unexpected serendipities this summer was the opportunity to partner with the Prairie Crossing Learning Farm which invited us to glean produce and donate it to food pantries in Lake County. On short notice we were able to pull together gleaning teams from North Suburban Mennonite Church and Trinity International University to harvest broccoli, zucchini, beans, and cabbage.
To date this summer: Between 15 – 20 bags of produce have been donated from backyard gardens and 16 cases of broccoli, 12 cases of beans, and 35 cases of cabbage have been gleaned and donated from the Learning Farm.
An addition this year, in which Ten Thousand Gardens was involved in developing, was the Manna Garden Initiative which provided a Free Farmer's Market in south Waukegan at Trinity AME Church. Trinity is located in a food desert (a place where there is no easy access to a grocery store providing healthy food options). Produce gleaned through Ten Thousand Gardens efforts - back yard gardens and gleaning, along with numerous other gardens (Long Grove Community Church, The Chapel - Libertyville, The Chapel - Barrington, Church of the Redeemer in Highland Park) and businesses and agencies around Lake County (Northern Illinois Food Bank. PeaPod, Whole Foods, Lewis Market) helped serve over 1300 persons with about 15,000 pounds of produce. This effort will increase in 2012 with the plan of finding more sources for gleaning of fresh produce. 
This has been an exciting second year for Ten Thousand Gardens. Backyard gardeners and gleaning volunteers harvested over 4000 pounds of produce – four times as much as we were able to provide food pantries last year. We were able to help the Avon Township Food Pantry, PLAN Food Pantry in Round Lake Beach, and COOL Food Pantry in Waukegan.
Harvest 2009