BONNERS FERRY — With a successful season behind them and the last harvest gathered to distribute to the community, GROW members wanted to celebrate.

That meant a Longest Table soup lunch, with the community invited to enjoy some of the harvest, learn about the group and connect with each other.

"It's food with friends," said GROW president Michelle Muir of what makes the event special.

Originally, the group thought about a salad bar to tie more closely to the harvest grown in its community garden. But with the end of the harvest, it was a little late in the year. Muir said it was the perfect time of year to make soup.

Since Saturday was also a work day, with GROW members and the community volunteering to help put the garden to bed, Muir said soup was a great way to celebrate the harvest and also have something warm and nourishing to share with the community.

And community, she noted, is at the heart of what GROW does and its core mission: to help others.

"It's sharing good food with friends and we just think it brings people together," Muir said. "It makes our community."

The luncheon seemed like the next step after growing food for the community, GROW members said.

Some who attended Saturday's luncheon came for the homemade soup and freshly picked harvest. Others came for the company, a chance to connect with friends and neighbors.

"The socializing is probably the main reason I came down," one woman said. "I kind of hope they can work something out and do this more, maybe not through the community garden but someone."

Everything from the basics — tomatoes, potatoes and carrots — is grown, with GROW adding sweet potatoes this year. Members provide thousands of pounds of fresh produce each year to local food banks and the senior center, helping an estimated 1,200-plus families a month.

"Our mantra is helping feed our neighbors in need," Muir said.

GROW members estimate they've donated several tons of vegetables over the years, helping offset food bills of community members and the local organizations that they support.

"The reaction I got from people is so heartwarming," one board member said. "I was in tears every time I dropped off food. They were so thankful to just have fresh vegetables. Being a gardener, you don't necessarily think about that."

In addition to helping at GROW's community garden, many of the board members also have multiple raised beds at home to donate to the food bank and senior center.

"It's just become a passion for me," said one woman. "It's absolutely my passion. I will either die in that garden or the garden over here."

During the growing season, the group works in the community garden, helping new gardeners with the tips and tricks of gardening in the climate. As it ripens, produce is shared with the community to help those in need, Muir said.

"My favorite thing when we're planting or we have those spring days is we have all these people — some who are gardeners and some aren't — and they're teamed up," she said. "The conversations they have are so fun and sometimes I just stand there and listen for a bit."

Like Muir, other board members said they love the connections and friendships that grow from those conversations and work days.

"It's people connecting," said one. "Even today, you could ask what the conversations were about and they certainly weren't all about gardening. It was networking. It was different things. And it all just brings everyone together."

In the winter, GROW hosts workshops and seminars with experienced gardeners leading the classes, which cover a wide variety of subjects.

"We do potluck and learn January through April where everybody brings a potluck dish and we have speakers come in and we teach people on how to garden here," Muir said.

That outreach to help others grow a bountiful garden in North Idaho is what attracted several members to the group. It didn't take long before they became regular members and now, board members.

"We found out about GROW and we didn't know how to grow here," said one woman. "We didn't know if it was like it was in California, where we could grow all year long. When we got here, it was like 'What do you mean you can't start your garden in June? What happened to April? What happened to May? We need help.'"

And in years like this past summer, when a lot of people struggled because of the cool spring and summer, GROW members said that knowledge of how to grow in the region's climate and microclimates can make the difference.

Located on the grounds of Trinity Lutheran Church, GROW — which stands for Gardeners for Regional Organic Wellbeing — has been a part of the community for 18 years, with Muir and her husband, Dan, who serves as the organization's vice president, being a part of the nonprofit for about five or six years.

The nonprofit works to support and expand the community's local food system while supporting sustainable agricultural methods in the region.

In addition to the community garden, raised garden beds are rented to community members who want a garden but either don't have space or live in an area where they can't grow certain produce such as tomatoes or peppers.

"We set them up with a drip line so they don't have to come in and water every day and we host potlucks and educational events where we have speakers come in," Muir said. "We want to bring the community together, break bread together and learn together."

Among the groups that GROW partners with are local scouting and youth groups eager to learn about gardening. The youth learn how to garden and help with the planting and weeding as well as harvesting the crops as they ripen.

Grants have helped GROW install fencing around the community garden, add raised beds and install drip lines. They've also helped the nonprofit add its own connection to the city water system. Also helping fund GROW projects is an annual raffle with a host of prizes, with this year's drawing taking place on Dec. 12.

A new area that GROW has branched into — raising worms — also involves youth, with group members raising them during the growing season and then getting the help of local schools during the winter. Also, GROW is working to build a mushroom garden, both for the produce and also to help members and the community learn how to grow different kinds of mushrooms.

And, if that isn't enough, GROW is also raising bees to ensure pollination and also to give members and the community another tool in the gardening knowledge base.

"We're multi-pronged," Muir said. "We run the whole gamut of gardening."