Culinary Wellness Garden: Our ‘Farm to Fork’ Update
It’s summer harvest time at the Witherell, as our residents dig into the produce harvested from our own Culinary Wellness Garden!
As you may remember, the Culinary Wellness Garden was created by Harry Shea and Bob Willis—long time friends and business partners. Harry and Bob, both food industry veterans with a passion for giving back to the community, created the garden on a quarter-acre plot on the Witherell campus. To make it a reality, they enlisted volunteers and donors to help. Sadly, Bob Willis passed away before the groundbreaking in 2017, but his legacy lives on as the garden continues to supply fresh produce to Nathaniel Witherell residents.
This year, the Garden is thriving under the direction of Alan Gorkin, a Greenwich agronomist. Locals may know Alan from Sleepy Cat Farm in Greenwich. Recently, we checked in with co-founder Harry Shea to find out how our garden is growing.
“On July 26th, Mary Jo from Sam Bridge Nursery was joined by Terri Browne Kutzen, Co-founder of the Greenwich Community Gardens, along with seven volunteers as they harvested 15 pounds of produce! Chef Kevinze was ecstatic over the abundance. He assured all of it would be put to good use,” Harry said. “On August 1st, I joined Mary Jo, Terri, and Linda Willis as another harvest of tomatoes, carrots, and zucchini was presented to Chef K. Terri also planted a second crop of beans and cucumbers. Work continues in the never ending need to weed, of course!”
As Harry notes, it takes a village to make a garden a success. “We are grateful to those volunteers who continue to come out and help. It is a testimony to the residents of Greenwich and their love of the community they live in,” said Shea.
If you’re interested in donating your time or talents to support the Culinary Wellness Garden, contact Harry Shea at gardenangels@WillisSheaGroup.com.
