Each summer the Middletown Garden Club partners with MARC Community Resource, Inc. to plant and maintain the garden beds on the roof of the Community Health Center in Middletown. Tuesday afternoons, a group of 10-15 members gather for a quick meeting and head out to the garden where they plant, water and weed their freshly grown flowers and produce. This year they grew tomatoes, onions, carrots, sunflowers, kale, strawberries and more.

As their plants mature, they weigh and package all of their harvest weekly and donate it to local food shelters. The last meeting of the season is devoted to a dinner they cook for each other, using their weekly harvest. Summer has flown by, and last night marked the final Garden Club meeting. With their harvest in hand, the group headed to CHC’s kitchen and to prepare their meal.

This year they made a delicious salad with homemade dressing, pasta with tomato sauce, blueberry and peach cobbler, and a peanut butter Bundt cake. After setting the table and getting everything ready, the group was able to sit down together and enjoy a meal made using ingredients they had carefully grown, cared for and harvested.

We are already looking forward to next summer!
Click here to look at all of our photos from last night’s dinner!