FarmSOURCE

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden in Baden, PA, are helping to address food security issues in Beaver County, PA, by offering community gardens at their congregation, which sits on 88 acres of sustainable grounds. Here, growing your own, composting and other low-carbon footprint activities are common practice to the Sisters.

Miriam's Garden, named for the biblical prophetess Miriam, is the title given to the Sisters' community garden project, which was started by Sister Lyn Szymkiewicz, director of grounds and eco projects. Sister Lyn promotes a 5,000-square-foot plot to the Beaver County community for those interested in growing their own. To be eligible, community gardeners are required to donate 20 pounds of their harvest to the Salvation Army of Rochester, Center for Hope in Ambridge, PA, and area Beaver County soup kitchens.

According to Sister Lyn, Miriam's Garden has 26 raised beds, 4 feet by 8 feet, where local gardeners have grown a real variety of food, including beans, squash, beets, lettuces, tomatoes, garlic, onions, watermelon, potatoes, eggplant and several herbs. "Miriam's Garden has far exceeded the required donations during the 2010 growing season, donating over 700 pounds of food!" says Sister Lyn.

To aid community gardeners with how to prepare their harvests, Cura Hospitality Director of Dining Services, Fred Blosat, offers cooking demonstrations with recipe ideas and cooking techniques. "I offer classes on how to prepare root vegetables, peppers and winter squash,” said Blosat, who is a trained chef.

In addition to Miriam's Garden, Sister Lyn also manages Twin Trinity, the congregation's 5,000-square-foot garden, which has yielded more than 500 pounds of food for area soup kitchens and 700 pounds for Cura's dining operation. "We use a variety of seasonal vegetables and herbs in the daily preparation of meals for the Sisters. In fact, we stopped ordering mesculin mix and head lettuce from our supplier because we receive an abundant supply from Twin Trinity," says Blosat, who also donates 100 pounds of kitchen and food scraps weekly to the Sisters composting pile.

What's in Sister Lyn's Twin Trinity garden now? Romaine, Swiss chard and winter squash, she says, adding, "Community gardens are a wonderful way to give back to the community, while helping to get the food security issue under control."