The move to our new offices in Whitehall has allowed us to try out some new and different things. Our latest experiment is our brand new community garden!
Over the last several weeks, our facilities crew created 6 raised garden plots behind our new building. A call went out for volunteers and before you can say “zucchini” we had a garden team assembled.
Wasserstrom employees Jen Johnson & Matt Vermillion volunteered to be the team leaders.
“Neither Matt nor I have any gardening experience. So we jumped online and started researching. I made Matt get a Pinterest account so we could look for ideas,” said leader Jen Johnson.
After some research, the team decided on a grid design. Then came plant selection. The team got a variety of vegetable plants but also included a couple of sunflower plants to help attract helpful, pollinating insects.
While almost everything is planted, the team still plans on planting potatoes and pumpkins (so that they will be ready for Halloween!).
The volunteers will take turns watering and weeding. And once the plants are ready for harvest, the crops will be shared with all Wasserstrom employees.
But the real goal for the gardens is even cooler than that. We expect to be able to donate fresh vegetables to a local charity here in Whitehall as just another way to give back to our new home.
And if things go well, there are already ideas on how to expand the program next season.
Many thanks to our new community garden team volunteers: Jen Johnson, Matt Vermillion, Stephanie Van Dyke, Laura Hiner, Jill DiMarco, Misty Booher, Kristi Rowland, Sarah Alsentzer, and Ryan Weisgerber.
Check out a few photos of our new project below.
