Legacy Garden offers 50-50 share to those who help harvest

Staff at the Legacy Gardenat the Farm Centre in Charlottetown are hopingthe saying is true:that many hands do make light work.

Most of the garden's summer students are back at school this week, but there are still lots of fruits and vegetables that need to be harvested.

So volunteer harvesters are being offered a deal: they can take home halfof whatthey pick, in exchange for the help.

"This has been an exceptional year for the garden. We still have pounds and pounds, thousands of pounds, still in the ground that need to be harvested," said head gardener Leah Collett.

"We're offering, if you come and give your time to harvest, that you can take 50 per cent of what you harvest home and 50 percent will be given to local charities."

'Extra hands'

Beets, carrots, squash, cucumbers, elderberries andblueberries are ready to harvest now, with apples and kiwis ready soon,Collett said.

"We always love to include the community in what we do, and we actually give away most of our produce away throughout the summer," Collett said.

"We thought that being able to do this 50-50 would be beneficial for us, so we have extra hands for our harvest, and beneficial for people who would want to support the garden and take home a little produce for themselves."

Collett said her phone has been buzzing with people interested in the offer.

She said this year's harvest is a total opposite from 2020, whenvery little rain in Julytook a toll on the yield.

"Last year, I know we were only able to give away about 2,500 pounds. This year, it's going to be well over 6,000 pounds," Collett said.

"We just have so much to give away and so much to get out of the ground."

'It's fun to give'

Krista Christensen and her young children dropped by the Legacy Garden Tuesday afternoon to harvest some vegetables for themselves, and lend a hand with picking.

"I had the time, and I could bring my kids out and we'll get dirtyand have a bit of fun outside," Christensen said. "It's no real extra hard work for us, and it's fun to give a little bit of something back."

Collett said there are COVID-19 rules in place for people coming to help with the harvest.

"We definitely would love people to give us a heads up before they come, just so we make sure that there's not too many people in a concentrated area," Collett said. "We want to maintain six feet. We have stations where you can sanitize your hands, sanitize tools."

'It feels great'

Collett saidsome produce will need to be harvested before the first frost, likely before the end of September.

"A backup plan is reaching out to friends and family," Collett said.

"Basically, it would probably mean that the people that are working here will just have to put in extra hours, unfortunately."

Collett said it's exciting to see how much produce is ready, even if it means having to recruit extra help.

"Last year was my first year here, so just to be able to go from a year where we were struggling to a year where we're thriving," Collett said."It feels great."

Collett said plans are also underway for producing the popular Legacy Garden teas that sold out last season.