Gardening workshops aimed at low-income residents in FiveCAP’s service area were held in Scottville, Baldwin, Manistee and White Cloud. Participants were given a variety of vegetable seedlings, and Master Gardener Toni Farr Rader and MSU Master Gardener Garry McKean shared planting tips and techniques to get the best yield from each plant.
The plants were distributed to 600 households, providing low-income residents with a self-sufficient environment.
Sufficient means to grow and preserve your own food. This is one of the most powerful self-sufficiency tools available.
When you think about what food actually means to someone who has to source enough food from outside to survive, that sense of accomplishment increases exponentially.
Not to mention the nutritional benefits
In the fall, FiveCAP will host a food preservation workshop where other MSU experts will advise participants on the best ways to dry, can and freeze the crops they grow so they can enjoy the fruits of their labor long after the growing season is over.
These workshops offer participants the opportunity to interact with experts and have their questions answered. The information is useful for everyone, from novices who want to learn how to grow their first field or bottle their first wine, to veterans with many harvests and thousands of bottlings under their belt.
