One Vegetable, One Community program brings 'leafy greens' week to Bemidji

BEMIDJI -- During the Bemidji City Council meeting on May 3, mayor Jorge Prince will dub the first week of May this year to be the week of "leafy greens" in support of One Vegetable, One Community , a food program led by the University of Minnesota Extension.

The program brings communities together in conversations about food and encourages gardeners of all levels to plant, grow, cook, and/or share a featured vegetable of the year.

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The proclamation will highlight leafy greens as the 2021 Beltrami County Vegetable of the Year and will help promote local foods, healthy eating and gardening, a release said.

For the past six years, the program has brought a vegetable of the year to Beltrami County and promoted it by providing free seed kits locally. This year, leafy greens will include gourmet lettuce mix, Grand Rapids loose-leaf, rainbow swiss chard and tatsoi mustard seed.

Pick-up locations are available and include Bemidji City Hall, Bemidji Community Food Shelf, Wild Hare Bistro, Blackduck Library, Harmony Natural Foods, Blackduck Resource Center, Sanford Clinic Blackduck, Kelliher City Hall and Kelliher Resource Center.

According to the release, help is always needed, as the program gets bigger every year. Donations are also appreciated. For more information or to contribute to the program, email Sandra Gehrke at gehrk129@umn.edu , or call (218) 760- 8390 .