The Blue Earth County Community Farm held an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday to commemorate the installation of a new well and drinking fountain at Weagel Park and showcase progress from the 2013 growing season. Additional highlights of the event included tours of the farm site and the opportunity to view informational displays by guest organizations such as the University of Minnesota Extension and Greater Mankato Bike & Walk Advocates. Attendees also were able to learn more about fresh produce donated to local hunger assistance programs and see a new sampling station that can travel to destinations such as ECHO Food Shelf to help provide healthy recipes and introduce individuals and families to varieties of produce from the Blue Earth County Community Farm.
To date, the Blue Earth County Community Farm has yielded over 6,800 pounds of fresh produce in the 2013 growing season. Community members, students, youth groups, organizations and sentence to serve participants have helped share their time and talents to plant, maintain, and harvest a wide variety of herbs, vegetables and fruits. Contributors including individuals, businesses and organizations have also helped support the Blue Earth County Community Farm through the donation of materials, supplies, seeds, labor and monetary contributions which helps keep the farm operational to provide local area hunger assistance programs with fresh produce.
“It’s exciting to see the progress that taken place over the course of two growing seasons and to ‘toast’ our glasses of water today to the potential of future growing seasons now that we have a permanent water source for irrigation,” stated Joe Domeier, Community Farm Manager.
The new well will help supply much needed water to the Blue Earth County Community Farm for irrigation uses which will help boost yield potential in future growing seasons, in addition to supplying Weagel Park with a water source for the newly installed drinking fountain which will benefit Red Jacket Trail users for years to come. Contributors to the Blue Earth County Community Farm well and drinking fountain included; Hy-Vee, Greater Mankato Bike & Walk Advocates, St. Peter Well Drilling, Xcel Energy, Ploog Electric, Kopp Plumbing & Heating and Blue Earth County Public Works Department.
The Blue Earth County Community Farm is a unique collaboration between local government and nonprofits (Blue Earth County, Three Rivers Resource Conservation and Development Council and Feeding Our Communities Partners) to grow fresh produce for local hunger assistance programs. The farm is operated through the generosity of community volunteers and support.