By Chris Barber
Contributing Writer

The residents of the Friends Home in Kennett are on the road to eating more home-grown vegetables coming from their newly completed raised gardens.

On April 22 residents and staff gathered to cut the ribbon on the impressive garden complex which now stands ready to grow tomatoes, lettuce, peppers and eggplants.

There are four of these structures, lined up two-by-two and filled with dirt on the west lawn of the building.

The growing bed lies at waist-level, so gardeners don’t have to struggle on their hands and knees to attend to the plants.

Present at the ceremony on that Tuesday (coincidentally Earth Day) were members of the Friends Home Garden Club, including Ed Johnson, 90, who has for several years led the gardening activities and was called upon to cut the ribbon.

He said in the course of his pre-retirement life, he worked in many greenhouses in New Jersey.

Incidentally, he added, he has, in the course of his life, grown asparagus, which takes two years to mature and be ready for eating.

The members of the garden club, which includes Dorothy Meht, Eileen Jennings, Toni Edeiken, Janice Ward, Marion Culbertson and Lillian Council, stood by to hold the ribbon as Johnson cut it.

Attending to gardens is not new to the Friends Home residents. They already have a flower garden and a hearty vegetable garden sitting just off Linden Hall – the skilled-nursing wing of the facility. The hearty plant garden there provides them with herbs and other plants that are comfortable in cooler conditions.

The new garden is suited for the growing of warm weather plants.

After the ribbon-cutting, the group gathered at that patio off Linden Hall for refreshments.

According to marketing and admissions director Christina Johnston, it was Christine McDonald who had the original vision for the gardens as part of the Home’s Montessori Lifestyle Program. McDonald serves as the executive director of the Friends Home in Kennett.

Johnston added that the kitchen staff was interested as well in adding to their supply of organic and locally grown vegetables.

Montessori education is widely viewed as offering activities rather than formal education methods for learning and socialization.

Johnston said the cost of the new gardens was $26,000, and that funding was provided by contributions and grants.

The building of the gardens was done by New London Construction owner Junior Villagomez.

Also on hand for the ribbon cutting was organic book author Pat Muccigrosso. A resident of Upper Oxford, she is an enthusiastic gardener and volunteer.