By Kara McMurray
Gazette Reporter 

'Plant starts' help pass time in line

 

plant starts

A plant start is assembled at a recent food distribution in Colfax.

Two Tuesdays a month, around noon, people start lining up on the corner of Main Street and Wall Street in Colfax to secure a place in line for the food pantry's food distribution. The distribution does not begin until 3 p.m.

For a way to pass the time and provide food for those in line, the food pantry, Council on Aging and USDA office, in conjunction with other agencies and groups, has started the Whitman County "Fresh Starts" program, which allows people to plant seeds while waiting in line for the food distribution.

“We do it so we can catch the line,” said Paige Collins, executive director at COA. “It's the perfect place for us to do outreach of any kind.”

Emily Pickron, soil conservationist at the USDA office in Colfax, recently presented the idea to Collins. The first program was April 12 in the food pantry line.

“It was so fun. It was amazing,” Pickron said, noting about 30 people were able to create plant starts in the line to take home and grow tomatoes. “We helped people from age four to upper 70s.”

The seeds were planted in plastic pots.

Pickron said she is hoping to use this program as a way to teach.

“I want to use it as a teaching tool to allow people the opportunity just to grow some of their own food,” she said.

Collins said she did a pilot program similar to this when she worked in Seattle.

“It grew and grew and grew,” she said. “People were growing their own food so much that they could donate back. That's what we hope it will grow in to.”

The program, with the assistance of groups such as Backyard Harvest and Catholic Charities Food for All, is low cost for the food pantry and zero cost for the people receiving plant starts.

“It's completely free to them,” Pickron said, “and our partners provide supplies.”

Collins said she is hoping this will be able to help people supplement what they receive from the food pantry, and Pickron agreed.

“It helps teach. It gives people more power to grow some of their own produce,” Pickron said. “It provides them with some of the ability to meet their own needs, and it helps teach the kids where some of their food comes from. There are so many lessons.”

Pickron called this program a twist on community garden plots.

“It's just a little bit of a change from that traditional garden plot,” she said. “It's such a great thing to do for people who have limited income or resources.”

Collins said anyone wanting to volunteer or donate items for the cause can contact her at the Council on Aging.

There is no timeline right now for how long the program will continue into the summer, Pickron said, but for now, she will be there twice a month to help facilitate the program.

“It will be neat,” she said, “to hear those success stories over time.”

 

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