Farm Fresh - Carroll Food program for developmentally disabled adults produces bounty at new garden

Carroll County Times
8/12/2009

Steve Allgeier thrust his shovel into the ground at the side of a potato plant to loosen the earth, then pulled the top of the dying stalk out of the ground, revealing roots covered in soil and the potatoes tangled within.

"Who wants to pull up the top of the potato plant? Are you ready?" the home horticulture educator asked the half dozen adults from The Arc of Carroll County timidly watching him Friday.

"I'm ready," said client Shannon Smith, and after a quick count to three by Allgeier, she pulled the next plant up, revealing a handful of petite potatoes.

Within 15 minutes of harvesting, the group had half a box of potatoes to take back to the University of Maryland Extension office with them. Next, they checked the tomato plants in the high tunnel greenhouse, picking two heirloom tomatoes and a couple of cherry tomatoes, and finally went to the squash field to pick one for everyone to take home.

"It's unbelievable the yield that we've gotten out here," said Terry Serio, food stamp and nutrition educator for the Carroll extension office.

This is the fourth year of the Carroll Outdoor Research and Education Center program, which the Carroll office has offered to developmentally disabled adults in Carroll. But this is the first year that they have gardened on their new site at the county-owned Gesell farm. The farm is adjacent to the Carroll County Agriculture Center, where the cooperative extension offices are housed.

Last year, extension educator Bryan Butler went to the county with a proposal to relocate the community garden, with a new greenhouse, on the Gesell property so that the program could expand. County leaders approved, and extension and Ag Center employees were at the chosen site in November to build the high tunnel greenhouse.

The program was started for adults with Change Inc., Serio said, but has expanded to serve two groups from Change Inc., one group from The Arc of Carroll County and one from Target Inc.

Serio said she and Allgeier spend six hours a week on the program, which teaches participants how to grow vegetables and herbs, the nutritional benefits of these foods and how to use them in cooking.

After working in the garden, the group went back to the extension office to put a photo page of last week's work into their books documenting their efforts and garden progress. The book also holds information sheets on each vegetable and recipes for how to use them.

Last week, the group picked onions, so this week's snack was French onion soup, which Serio had prepared ahead of time to save time. Some clients carefully stirred the soup, waiting for it to cool down, while others couldn't wait to dive in.

"Half of them will tell you they don't eat vegetables, but they come here and they eat everything," said Laura Syes, program manager for The Arc of Carroll County.

Serio reviewed the main ingredients for the soup: onions, which fight cholesterol; cheese, which has calcium for bones and protein for muscles; and croutons, whose grains can give people energy. A few heads nodded in agreement.

Not all of the clients understand the nutritional information she gives them, or are able to remember it for much past the lesson, Serio said, but that doesn't bother her.

"It's not necessarily just for them, it's for the staff that comes with them, too," Serio said.

Some of the assistants who work for the agencies also give homecare to developmentally disabled adults, Serio said, so it's beneficial to give them nutritional tips and easy meals and snacks they can prepare for the clients.

The program runs from late February to the end of October, Serio said. The old garden site at the extension office used to be riddled with shade and compacted soil, making it harder to grow any vegetables, let alone during the early spring or late fall.

But the new site has plenty of space and sunlight, an automatic watering system and the greenhouse, which makes season extension easy. In October, the clients will be able to pick pumpkins from the garden, Serio said, which they have been watching grow all summer long.

"It's an excellent site, we were surprised at how well things have grown," Allgeier said.

Cathi Holibaugh, a support staff member with The Arc of Carroll County, said the program is a highlight of the week for the clients who take part in it.

"When they get back, they talk about this all afternoon," she said.

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