Thanks to a few key donations of space, seeds and plant starts, Whitefish Lions Club members were able to get their hands back into the soil to raise nutritious produce for area families this year.

The Whitefish Lions Club is not new to gardening. For years, the club’s members tended garden plots in town, the most recent was on the grounds of Whitefish High School.

“The Lions Club used to grow food for the Whitefish school district kitchen on the high school property, and they did that primarily growing winter squash and potatoes for the kitchen,” said Robin Kelson, Lions Club member and coordinator of the garden project. 

That program ended when the school district invested in the Center for Sustainability and Entrepreneurship and the high school expanded.

This year, the owner of Stage Road Estates donated the use of a 1,700-square-foot garden plot to the Lions. They were delighted to return to working the soil for the first time since the garden at the high school closed.

They delivered the bulk of their harvest to Land to Hand Montana, a longstanding, local nonprofit which offers a number of food access programs and education programs that serve people in Columbia Falls, Whitefish and Kalispell.

Land to Hand’s Columbia Falls School District Backpack Program provides weekend food bags to 375 to families and individuals each week. Andrea Getts of Land to Hand said a new community fridge, located at their building at 279 Veteran Drive, is available to the public every Thursday from 3-6 p.m.

Land to Hand provides all kinds of food, but Getts said people really appreciate the fresh produce.

“We grew squash, tomato, greens, beans, cucumbers … every week and delivered them to the Backpack Program,” said Kelson. “This is a beginning to re-engage Lions Club back into community farming and the goal is that we’ll be able to increase our numbers and increase the space in which we grow.”

The Lions’ work was appreciated by the organization and the people receiving the bags.

“Consistently, every week, we were met by such overwhelming gratitude,” said Lynn Rochard, Lions Club gardener. “We started when the greens came up in the spring and we had a whole boatload of sugar peas … squashes and cucumbers, tomatillos, the variety of what we had …”

The volume of the Lions Club harvest was as remarkable as the variety.

“I took 30 gallons of green beans and Audra (Tasa) did another 15,” said Hal Trost, Lions Club gardener. “And that wasn’t the entire harvest.”

While delivering to Land to Hand, Trost said it was nice to see the kids enjoying the vegetables. He recalled a youngster there who said she was a big fan of tomatoes and was eating the small, golden sunbursts by the handful.

While Getts said people donate plums or apples from their trees, grow extra zucchini or share their cucumbers for the community fridge on the deck of their building in Columbia Falls, the consistent supply of organic vegetables delivered by the Lions was key.

“The Lions Club was the most consistent filler of the community fridge,” said Getts. “They would pretty much harvest every week and they have some really nice produce and they would wash it and make sure it was in good shape before they brought it over.”

In addition to growing a variety of vegetables for the Backpack Program, the Lions Club gardeners went to work recently harvesting another crop.

“We wanted to reinstate the growing food for the Whitefish School District kitchen, so we asked them what they wanted and they said potatoes,” Kelson said. “The potatoes were donated by Snow Country Gardens, so these are all heritage, heirloom potatoes.”

A crew of about a dozen volunteers from the Lions Club worked in the garden each week and hoped to finish the potato harvest and have the garden plot cleaned up before the snow flies. While several of the Lions Club members are seasoned gardeners, some were giving it a go for the first time.

“This is my first foray into gardening and the thing that is the greatest pleasure is interacting with these folks,” said Karl Cozad, Lion Club member and retired director of the Whitefish Parks and Recreation Department. “It's just a great group of people.”