Luther Garden produces 70 pounds of potatoes for local food pantry

(Left to right) Elsa McCargar, Dan Erb, Sam Zook, Ellie Neubauer and Bekky Willis. (Luther College Photo by Andrew Kraabel)

The First Lutheran Church Food Pantry has received approximately 70 pounds of potatoes, thanks to a Luther College Sustainability initiative.

The program started because Luther assistant sustainability coordinator Maren Stumme-Diers contacted First Lutheran Church Food Pantry coordinator Carolyn Flaskerud, who told her that potatoes and onions are among the best fresh vegetables to donate to the pantry because they have a longer shelf life than most vegetables and can be used into the fall and winter seasons.

"We were very fortunate, because the Luther Cafeteria happened to have a sack of locally grown potatoes that had sprouted," said Stumme-Diers. "They donated the sack to the Luther Gardens, providing the seed potatoes for the project."  The seed potatoes were planted by Luther gardeners in a 20-by-20 foot plot in the Luther Gardens dedicated to the food pantry project.

Once the potato plants matured, the Luther gardeners dug up and washed 70 pounds of potatoes and donated them to the food pantry.