#ygkChallenge: Grow a Row

Welcome to Kingstonist’s weekly challenge, dare, resolution or whatever you prefer to call it. Each week we establish a new and ambitious community goal, encouraging our readers, followers, friends and families to step out of their comfort zones and do something great, and hopefully a little out of the ordinary. Consider this your official and personal invitation to join us in completing a small but meaningful achievement. By taking part in this community-wide initiative, we hope to make Kingston a slightly better place to live, work and play. And of course, we also hope that you will feel proud of your contribution and achievement.

This week’s challenge encourages you to:

Grow a row. Food costs are on the rise. In 2011 the price of fresh produce rose 16% from 2010 prices – making the purchase of healthy fresh food beyond the means of many Kingstonians. Grow a Row makes more fresh produce available for low-income members of our community. Last year, Loving Spoonful collected over 7000 lbs of fresh produce through the Grow a Row campaign! Ultimately, the purpose of Grow a Row is to encourage growers (both full-time farmers and backyard or community gardeners) to grow an extra row of food for the express purpose of donation to emergency meal programs. Check out Loving Spoonful for more information.

Sign up and commit to completing this week’s challenge by commenting below with an “I’m in“, “challenge accepted“, “en garde” or something along those lines. Further, help us spread the word via Twitter and Facebook by using the hashtag: #ygkchallenge. As you work towards completing this week’s task, please feel free to lend others a helping hand by providing tips on how you achieved success.

Thanks and credit to alexindigo for supplying the photo associated with this week’s ygkchallenge.