Garden Harvest, Inc. has a total of 88 acres, consisting of five
parcels of land, three parcels located on Mantua Mill Road, and
two parcels on Geist Road. The Geist Road farm is used to rotate
flocks of sheep and goats, and also to grow large crops of
organic raspberries and blueberries. The main office where all
records are kept and business transacted is located at 2032
Geist Road property.
The three Mantua Mill parcels are where all the annual crops are
grown, and a good number of perennial fruit trees and bushes as
well: 20 peach, 450 Asian Pear, 20 plum, 24 apple, 6 cherry, and
10 Paw Paw trees; 50 blueberry bushes, 100 blackberry bushes,
100 raspberry bushes. In between the farmed parcels, there
is a parcel of land and brick house that is a private residence,
not part of Garden Harvest per se. But since the three farmed
parcels do not have a post office address, for the sake of the
volunteers who need to locate where to go to do their service
work, the residents have allowed Garden Harvest to use their
post office address to give volunteers a point of reference for
their GPS, mapquest, and other direction finding devices.
There is plenty of parking on the farm parcels as well as
spot-a-pots to accommodate volunteers and staff working the
land. Staff and volunteers can also use the bathroom
facilities at the Geist Road property.
Through the generous support of foundations, Garden Harvest has
purchased all the equipment necessary to implement a method of
agriculture that is both organic and sustainable. Organic
means that no chemicals are used on the land or the crops.
And sustainable means that the soil is not disturbed, or
minimally disturbed, in order to prevent erosion, preserve soil
structure, and all the micro-organisms that make for a healthy,
continually fertile growing medium.
The
integration of farm animals into our food production system is crucial
to maximize productivity of the no-till system. Since cover crops
do not always germinate perfectly, weeds crop up, & begin to
proliferate. When that happens, we put the animals on that land;
they denude the land of weeds as completely as do herbicides but without
any cost and without polluting the soil & ground water with toxic
chemicals. Moreover, while performing this job of weed control, the
animals add lots of fertilizer! Then, after the land is weeded
& fertilized, we can plant it again.
Garden Harvest also has
a new new 100 gallons per minute well on its 20.8 acre parcel,
which, once hooked up will greatly increase Garden Harvest's
annual production.
Perhaps the most exciting part of this incredible success is that it comes as the result of an outstanding response from the community: Individuals, students in schools and colleges, staff and clientele from emergency food service and shelter providers, government workers, civic and social club members, church and synagogue constituents, and corporate executives and employees have all provided dependable, enthusiastic volunteers. In 1994 we had 333 volunteers to work in our fields. In 1995, that figure exploded to over 1,921 individual volunteers. By
Y2000, over 5,000 individuals donated over 18,000 hours of planting, crop maintenance, harvesting, and even administrative tasks.
And every year, since them more groups have come!
Garden Harvest, Inc. has a total of 88 acres, consisting of five
parcels of land, three parcels located on Mantua Mill Road, and
two parcels on Geist Road. The Geist Road farm is used to rotate
flocks of sheep and goats, and also to grow large crops of
organic raspberries and blueberries. The main office where all
records are kept and business transacted is located at 2032
Geist Road property.
Through the generous support of foundations, Garden Harvest has
purchased all the equipment necessary to implement a method of
agriculture that is both organic and sustainable. Organic
means that no chemicals are used on the land or the crops.
And sustainable means that the soil is not disturbed, or
minimally disturbed, in order to prevent erosion, preserve soil
structure, and all the micro-organisms that make for a healthy,
continually fertile growing medium.
Perhaps the most exciting part of this incredible success is that it comes as the result of an outstanding response from the community: Individuals, students in schools and colleges, staff and clientele from emergency food service and shelter providers, government workers, civic and social club members, church and synagogue constituents, and corporate executives and employees have all provided dependable, enthusiastic volunteers. In 1994 we had 333 volunteers to work in our fields. In 1995, that figure exploded to over 1,921 individual volunteers. By
Y2000, over 5,000 individuals donated over 18,000 hours of planting, crop maintenance, harvesting, and even administrative tasks.
And every year, since them more groups have come! 
