United Way community garden donates 12,700 lbs of produce to local organizations

United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes (UWCKL) announced recently that the cumulative total of produce donated from Edwin Binney’s Community Garden 2020 was over 12,700 lbs. The garden has more than doubled last year’s total yield of 5,500 lbs.

Produce from the garden reached 1,315 individuals across the Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton through food banks and community organizations.

An additional 275 participants received produce through three pilot projects; Fresh Produce Friday, which served three housing communities in partnership with the City of Kawartha Lakes; Garden at Your Table, which delivered produce in collaboration with Community Care City of Kawartha Lakes; and Haliburton FoodLove in partnership with Haliburton Highland Health Services Community Programs.

This year, the size of the plowed area was expanded to produce larger yields, and multiple crops were planted in succession throughout the season. With funding from Tree Canada, UWCKL and Fleming College planted over 100 fruit trees at the garden earlier this month. Their team is anticipating even greater yields and more variety due to the addition of this orchard for years to come.

The ongoing development of partnerships has brought incredible dedicated experts together for the past several years to help design Edwin Binney’s Community Garden.  In its second season, this unique agricultural food security initiative and education centre has yielded far more than anticipated by the main partners, Crayola Canada, Fleming College and UWCKL.

“Fleming College’s lead experts helped us plan a response to support current food programs here and in Haliburton County,” explains Penny Barton Dyke, executive director of UWCKL. “Seniors, families and those who found themselves more isolated during this time were able to receive healthy fresh food. We are grateful to our donors and supporters who made it possible to ramp up our production,” she adds.

More information on Edwin Binney’s Community Garden can be found here.