Their knowledge grows along with the vegetables

[ Originally published on: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 ]

GILL -- Nestled in the hills off River Road is a medium-sized patch of garden growing cucumbers, butterhead lettuce, zucchini, potatoes, dill, squash, Swiss chard, green beans, arugula and flowers.

This patch of produce, known as Gillbilly Garden, is the brainchild of Ashley Storrow, who got a grant from Skidmore College, where she'll be a junior majoring in developmental studies.

The garden is designed to encourage local agriculture, get different people involved in agriculture and get produce in the hands of low-income people, who might not normally have a chance to get fresh produce, Storrow said.

She's working with Simon Eaton, 18, of Greenfield and Mark Heath, 21, of Northfield, farming a small patch of land, about 150 feet by 40 feet, on the Storrow family farm. Eaton and Heath come to the farm through the Youth Employment Program, which runs through the Brick House Community Resource Center.

Every Tuesday, the Gillbilly Garden goes to the Franklin County Community Development Corp.'s Western Massachusetts Food Processing Center on Wells Street to make granola and zucchini bread. The CDC waives its fee for the young farmers.

On Wednesdays, the group harvests the crops and brings it, along with the goods they made at the CDC kitchen, to the Great Falls Farmers Market in Turners Falls, which runs from 3 to 6 p.m. on the corner of Second Street and Avenue A. On Thursday, they take what they didn't sell the day before to the food pantry in Turners Falls.

''We all learned a lot,'' said Storrow. ''We all kind of dabbled in farm work, but this is different. This is the first time I've been in charge of such a big garden.''

 

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