The Youth Garden in Tolland was started by the Tolland Garden Paths Club in 2012. It is located near the Lions Baseball Field at Crandall’s Park in Tolland. It started as a garden to teach children about gardening. We became part of the Tolland Camp during the summer months.
As the garden evolved, we realized that this garden had another potential. It was a great way to share our produce with the nearby Cornerstone Soup Kitchen. The children were involved in planting, and also in harvesting. We also have had Scouts and homeschoolers at our garden helping us water and weed.
More recently, we have made the mission of serving the Soup Kitchen with our harvest as the number one priority. We always start our season by asking the Kitchen Staff if there is a particular vegetable that we should plant. They always say to us, “Whatever you plant, we will use”. We always feel welcome with our bags and plastic boxes of vegetables! We plant spinach, arugula, lettuce, kale, swiss chard, beets, radishes, cucumbers, string beans, summer squash, zucchini, eggplants, cherry tomatoes, and sweet peppers. We also plant a few types of basil, parsley, thyme, dill, garlic and onions. We cram it all in from May through September! For 2024 we harvested over 300 lbs of produce.
Our Garden Club dues and our fundraisers help to pay for our seeds and any of our needs to keep the garden fertile and nourished. We have also received donations from local businesses that help our garden as well. We all feel that it is a pleasure to serve The Soup Kitchen at Cornerstone.
