Upper Lake >> Tuesday morning, high school agricultural students walked among rows of raised garden beds full of ripe fruits and vegetables ready to be picked, and as long as they log the weight, the students and anyone else are welcome to do so.
“It’s a fabulous growing system, it’s just so easy,” Lorrie Gray said.
The students were at the site of what was once an old feed mill, now turned into a community garden on the corner of Second and League streets in Upper Lake. Bernie Butcher, owner of the Tallman Hotel and Blue Wing restaurant, donated the land for the Lake County Hunger Task Force to use.
The nonprofit organization works with churches, food pantries, senior centers and essentially any group with the common goal to feed the people of Lake County.
Upperward Bound high school students last summer cleared the land, which now has a variety of squash, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini and tomatoes.
Agriculture and vocational teacher Erica Boomer, brought her students out to learn the different methods of growing and get ideas for their own garden currently in the works, said Gray, hunger task force treasurer.
A former Upper Lake High School student, Butcher said she’s “really resurrected” the school’s agricultural department, calling it a “vibrant program.”
The hunger task force also recently met with about 25 community members and their children to teach them the basics of how to pick, what to pick and when.
“It’s fun, it’s a community garden,” she said. “People need to know where their food comes.”
To learn more about the Lake County Hunger Task Force, find it on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LakeCountyHungerTaskForce.
