The One Vegetable One Community project aims to inspire gardeners of all levels to plant, grow, cook, and come together around one specific vegetable. The results of these efforts include more people gardening, more people eating healthy foods, and more people of all socioeconomic levels who have regular access to good food. This year's feature vegetable for Itasca County is carrots! Jesse Davis from the Grand Rapids Farmers' Market and Carmen Griggs, Itasca County SNAP Coordinator, stopped by the studio to talk about the initiative and of course about carrots!
Most people are familiar with the standard orange carrot, but carrots come in a wide variety of colors -red, purple, white, yellow, and even some that are purple on the outside and orange on the inside. Jesse and Carmen educated us on different kinds of carrots, gave us some growing tips and even shared some favorite ways to prepare them.
The public is invited to attend the One Vegetable One Community seed packing event at the Klockow Brewing Company in Grand Rapids on April 18th at 5:30pm. Seeds kits will be available for the public in early May and can be picked up at libraries and food shelves across Itasca County as well as the Itasca County YMCA. Seed kits include planting instructions, maturation information and recipes.
