1st Annual Summer Dinner for Rooftop Garden Club

The Community Health Center, Inc. rooftop garden comes to life each spring by thawing itself out after the harsh winters of New England weather, and awakens for spring. The Middletown Garden Club is welcomed to the rooftop to plant and weed every Tuesday from now until August. They plant an array of seedlings and vegetables for their three annual dinners throughout the summer. Not only does the club garden each year, but also extends an invitation to MARC Community Resources organization to help take care of the garden.

MARC is located on Washington Street and is known to serve over 200 adults and children with a wide range of disabilities. One of their ways to assist their needs is to help them find activities where it gives them an opportunity to work with others, meet new people, and gain a working knowledge on an activity they wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity.

This year the club received new soil, sand, and compost for each plot. They decided to plant an assortment of new fruits and vegetables this season ranging from watermelon, bush beans, strawberries, lettuce, kale Tuscan, and much more. After gardening on the roof this past Tuesday and getting rained out of the garden right before picking many of the strawberries and lettuce they all packed up and drove to Melissa Robert’s home for the first annual dinner of the summer.

The club prepared many of the dishes at Robert’s home using the lettuce and strawberries from the garden like a multi-colored pasta salad, lettuce and strawberry salad, and sweet coleslaw. Robert’s husband cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill. Many of us were spread out throughout dinner with some eating on the porch, dining room, and in the breakfast nook overlooking Robert’s garden. Many finished off their plates and quickly moved onto the homemade desserts like brownies with beans, bread with melted apple, and a bowl full of strawberries from the garden.