About 500 gardeners are being enlisted to grow food to feed the homeless in the Roaring Fork Valley, reports the Aspen Times. A local nonprofit, Growing Food Forward, provides the seeds to gardeners, who then give their fresh produce to local kitchens. Last year, some 200 gardeners provided 8,000 pounds of food:
Wille, a former Aspen resident now living in El Jebel, launched the seed sharing program in 2013. About 200 gardeners volunteered that summer. The number sagged to about 130 last year because Wille was focused on working with community partners to build 102 raised beds where veggies and greens were raised for the effort.
Even with reduced numbers of growers, about 8,000 pounds of produce from gardeners associated with the program was donated to Lift-Up, according to Wille.
