Overview
Our small nursing home in Maine has a ¾-acre vegetable garden. What started the thought of having a garden at a nursing home was creating a home-like environment and also saving on food costs in the process. Residents have the choice to help out in a garden or maybe with processing vegetables when they come into the building (snapping string beans or husking corn etc.) The problem was state of Maine regulations on where food may come from. Fresh grown vegetables were not allowed. We helped in getting these regulations changed. The final outcome is a large ¾-acre vegetable garden. Residents love the fresh vegetables, and we have also been able to donate extra vegetables to local food banks, all while helping the food budget during certain times of the year.
We produce peas, string beans, peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, eggplant, zucchini, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, basil, rhubarb, and five apple trees that produce approximately 10-12 bushel of apples a year. We also have flowers in the garden that are used for fresh cut flowers on the tables in the facility. We have also maintained a pumpkin growing contest that is greatly enjoyed by the residents each fall with a pumpkin weigh-in at the end of the season. Pumpkins are not as large as a state contest pumpkin would be, but residents have enjoyed weighing pumpkins in that weigh over 400 pounds.
