Farmington Hills volunteers will again spend the summer tending a community garden sponsored by the utility company.
If all goes well this growing season, a community garden in Farmington Hills sponsored by DTE Energy will turn out several thousand pounds of food for local families in need.Located on 10 Mile Road west of the Grand River split, the four-acre garden last year produced 3,000 pounds of fresh produce that went to Gleaners Community Food Bank, according to local coordinator Trista Johnson.
"We have about a hundred volunteers," the Farmington Hills resident said. "Some come out regularly, some only one or two times."
DTE's community garden project manager, Marc Zupmore, also a Hills resident, said the Hills garden was installed in 2009, a year after DTE Energy launched its community garden project with two plots. This year, about 850 volunteers are working more than four acres of gardens in Allen Park, Birmingham, Frenchtown Township, Lyon Township, Plymouth Township, Pontiac, Southfield, Washington Township and Westland, along with Farmington Hills, he said.
Altogether, they produced 44,000 pounds of food last year for Gleaners.
Every garden is a little different in shape and size, and each comes with "different challenges and different variables," Zupmore said. The Hills garden has done well, despite a problem last year with groundhogs.
"They ate about 25 percent of our tomatoes last year," he explained, adding DTE installed a fence around the property this year that goes about two feet into the ground. "We're hoping they're going to stay on their side of the fence."
Volunteers worked over the past two weeks to till the soil and install about 200 tomato plant stakes. They have also installed a drip watering system, using a network of hoses that snake through the garden. Zupmore said the system is more environmentally friendly-as well as more volunteer friendly, because it requires less maintenance.
"It's a great system," he said. "You learn each year. Everybody's going to bring an idea."
Volunteers have ranged from individuals to groups, including Scouts, the Farmington/Farmington Hills Mayors Youth Council, Comerica Bank and even people who have to do court-ordered community service. DTE Energy provides seeds and plants. Zupmore said plants have been donated by Bonnie Plants, which supplies Lowe's, and seeds were supplied by the Oakland County Extension Service.
"It's not just DTE any more," Zupmore said. "A lot of community groups are providing labor and resources. The neat thing about this project is it involves anybody."
To learn more about the Farmington Hills DTE Energy garden, visit DTE's website or contact Zupmore at 313-235-3579.
http://farmington-mi.patch.com/articles/dte-property-helps-feed-the-needy?ncid=M255
