PA Couple Growing Food for Greater Good Through PHS Harvest 2020
GARNET VALLEY (WPVI) -- The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society kicked off a new initiative last month called Harvest 2020 with the goal of expanding its network of growers donating to fight food insecurity across the region.
Tamala Edwards caught up with one of the program's newest growers in Greater Philadelphia.
After a four-year hiatus from growing a vegetable garden, Carol Parton and her husband, Rick, have hopped back on the bandwagon to grow for the greater good at their home in Garnet Valley, PA.
"It took a lot of work to get started up, but then we really are happy and pleased with it," says Parton.
Parton says she used to grow a large garden each year, but once Rick retired, they started traveling and the food was going to waste.
"We would put plants in, and things would start to rot on the vine," says Parton. "I had no idea how to get the produce to people who could really use it, until I heard about Harvest 2020."
The goal of Harvest 2020 program is to have 100,000 people growing and sharing across the greater Philadelphia region. The Partons have enlisted their granddaughters, Julianna and Jillian Palo, involved as well by giving them a section of the garden.
"We specifically bought plants for them that they could plant and then they can weed around and take care of," says Parton. "Both of them are doing it and I just think it's a nice thing. We taught our daughter and now I'm teaching her daughters."
Julianna adds, "It really makes me happy that the food is going to a good place and to people in need."
Parton is donating through Food Connect, a Harvest 2020 partner.
"They will come and pick up the produce and then distribute it," explains Parton.
As part of Harvest 2020, you can pledge to be a grower for yourself, a sharer, or a giver to help fund PHS programs.
"I know that when we have way more than we could use that it's really going to people, and it's healthy, it's organic," says Parton, "So we're really proud of that."
Learn more about PHS' Harvest 2020 initiative here: https://phsonline.org/harvest2020/overview.
