6/09/2024
Q. Where can I sign-up for the Gardens for Good project (2024)?
Q. How do I get my produce from my garden to the program for distribution?
A. Most participants deliver their own produce to the Ramsey County Extension Office (e.g., the “Barn”) located at 2020 White Bear Avenue in Maplewood from 12:00-1:00pm on Thursdays during the growing season. Some volunteers consolidate their own produce with that of other Master Gardeners in their area for delivery.
Q. Where is the collection at the Barn?
A. Inside the Barn in the kitchen area. The door to the Barn will be unlocked so you can come inside and find us in the kitchen area, aggregating food and flowers into distribution bins.
Q. What if I can’t deliver my produce/flowers to the Barn on Thursday morning between 12:00 and 1:00?
You can bring your produce to the Barn on Wednesday night or early on Thursday. Leave it either in the Resource Center (previously diagnostic clinic) or in the Barn kitchen refrigerator. (Note: there is a key to the office in the Resource Center desk drawer). Please label the produce with your name and the produce variety if needed; for example, "Bob Smith, jalapeno hot peppers."
Produce can also be dropped off, by prior arrangement, with other Master Gardeners who volunteer to act as local collection sites. These volunteers are:
NE metro: Beth Fritcher: 4129 Parkridge Drive (SE of 35E and Hwy 96 in White Bear) at the intersection of Parkridge Drive and Park Valley Lane. Dark blue house. Email bfritcher@comcast.net or text 651-592-3968
Roseville: Terry Smith: 1/2 mile South of Highway 36, just East of Lexington Ave, 1023 Shryer Ave W. Email terrysmith9898@gmail.com or text 651/468-4064
St. Paul: Laurel Watt: 1531 Osceola Ave., Saint Paul. Email lwatt55@icloud.com or text 651/785-7462
Q. What types of donations are you seeking?
A. Any kind of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and cut flowers are welcome.
Residents range in ethnicity from Hmong to African American to Hispanic so ethnic produce is greatly appreciated.
Small donations are great! Most of the Wilson residents live alone and want small portions. Plus, your items will be combined with other donations to make a larger total.
Q. What quality of produce is expected?
A. Farmers’ Market quality. Produce need not be perfect but it should not be bruised, overripe or insect or otherwise damaged (e.g. split tomatoes or extremely bug-bitten greens).
Q. How would you like the donations to be packaged?
Brush off dirt as necessary, but you don’t need to wash anything.
Large items such as eggplant, melons and cucumbers can be dropped off in bulk bags.
For smaller items such as cherry tomatoes and snap peas, please package them in individual serving bags.
For delicate items, like herbs, it is helpful to provide them in banded bunches or in a takeout container with a wet paper towel.
We will have containers for small fruit and can divide berries at the Barn into individual containers if you do not have small containers.
Provide flowers in a disposable container (for example, a yogurt carton) that allows for easy transport and easy disposal.
Q. What else do we distribute at the Free Market besides produce and flowers?
Healthy recipes for using produce, especially produce that the residents are not all familiar with.
Samples prepared from produce using healthy recipes.
Q. To whom are the produce and flowers provided?
Residents of a Public Housing facility. We have partnered with St. Paul Public Housing and selected the Wilson Hi-Rise at 1300 Wilson Ave, St Paul, MN 55106. (Located near the intersection of Johnson Parkway and I-94 in East St. Paul.) This will be our fourth year of providing produce and flowers to Wilson Hi-Rise.
Q. Why don’t we provide produce to more Public Housing facilities in St Paul?
While our collection volumes are relatively high in late August/early September, in general we run out of produce by the end of our 90-minute distribution time. If we are able to collect more produce from Master Gardeners, we can expand to another location within the St. Paul Public Housing system.