Grown@Pope
Grown@Pope is a collaborative food-producing garden led by the Community Garden Program with support from Pope Farm Nursery and HarvestShare. The project increases the availability of local, fresh produce for food insecure households by growing and donating produce to local food assistance providers (e.g., food pantries and community hubs). This is done with a focus on sustainable farming practices, community building, and cultivation of diverse, culturally important crops. The project is located on a 0.2-acre plot (8,000 square feet) at Pope Farm Nursery in Gaithersburg, MD.
Since 2020, Grown@Pope has donated nearly 7,300 pounds of fresh produce and received over 4,500 hours of volunteer support.
Project Goals
- Use practices that improve health. This includes farming practices that prioritize building soil health as a fundamental source of food health; improving ecological health by incorporating plantings that benefit the natural environment; contributing to human health by using organic farming practices that minimize harm to local waterways; and farming in community to build stronger connections to land and each other.
- Grow access to fresh produce for diverse cultures and communities. Grown@Pope cultivates foods that represent the diversity among Montgomery County residents. The produce is distributed to food assistance providers within 5 miles with no need for refrigeration or long-term storage to deliver on its goal to increase food access to food insecure households and reduce food waste by harvesting thoroughly and regularly.
- Involve community members in gardening and farming. Grown@Pope invites county residents and organizations to participate in growing food for neighbors in need of quality fresh produce, by giving them access to the garden and farm through attending volunteer workdays, assisting in hands-on farming tasks, gardening tasks and maintenance work, and harvesting throughout the growing season from March to November.
Volunteer Opportunities
Grown@Pope volunteers help with daily tasks including planting, harvesting, pruning, weeding, and mulching. Volunteers are typically scheduled for 2 to 4 hour shifts during the week, between the hours of 8am and 2pm. Learn more about our volunteer opportunities:
- Grown@Pope Workdays are great for individuals or groups that would like to volunteer for 1 to 3 days. Workdays are approved for Student Service Learning (SSL) hours and provide a unique opportunity for team building and learning new skills with your friends, co-workers, or any other type of group.
- Crop Production Aides help with Grown@Pope on a regular basis throughout the season. Hands-on-tasks will focus on skill development, aiming to enhance volunteers’ horticultural knowledge, not just garden production.
What volunteers are saying:
“Volunteering at Grown@Pope has helped me to become a better Master Gardener because I am learning new skills and knowledge about cultivating places while at the garden gleaning.” – Master Gardener and HarvestShare Volunteer
“The produce we get from Pope -the pepper varieties, the extra things- are what help people create a meal with dignity.” – HarvestShare Volunteer
“Being in the garden has given me hands on experience to learn more about gardening from doing. I believe that it is good for young people to see where their food is coming from and to learn about different plants, including basic gardening skills such as which plants grow well together and which plants are harmful to crops and/or invasive and should be removed.” – Magruder High School Student