Summit Community Gardens Executive Director Sloane Johnson stepped away from the position for personal reasons in July. In September, she made that a permanent decision. Kelly Vendetti has been serving as interim director since July but is moving out of state this week.
While she will remain on board remotely until the end of the year, Vendetti says the board is scouring through more than 100 applications.
“We're actually at the point where we've gone through those, we've narrowed it down. We're going to do some first round interviews this week,” Vendetti said. “And then the week after Thanksgiving, kind of get it narrowed down to maybe three candidates, do some more interviews and choose by the end of the month, we hope.”
Summit Community Gardens merged with EATS – or Eat Awesome Things – last year. She says it’s time to come up with a new name.
“It is not going to continue to be that name because it's just too much to say all at once,” she said. “We have a branding committee that's been working on it. They've been working with both the board members and different community members to try to come up with a new name. My understanding, and I'm not privy to what the shortlist is, but they do have a shortlist of names and hope to be deciding also by the end of the year.”
In years past, the garden has held a weekly farmers market to sell the produce it grows during the summer. But this year, all of the food was donated to the Christian Center and People’s Health Clinic, breaking its harvest record.
“In the middle of our garden, we have four large demonstration beds, and we grow food there that then we distribute through the community for people that can't afford or don't have access to fresh foods,” she said. “So, the final number was 1,351 pounds, that's the most we've ever grown. And it consisted of kale and lettuce, but also tomatoes, pumpkins, apples. We have the rotary orchard. The rotary organization funded 10 apple trees, and they're kind of at the front end, right when you walk in, and we actually harvested apples this year from them.”
Renewals for next year’s plots are being accepted through the end of the month. Any of the plots not renewed will be offered to those on the waiting list. If you’re interested, fill out the application. You can find the link to apply here.
