Community garden concept grows in The Woodland

Sarah Mundy, project coordinator of the community garden at the Alden Bridge Sports Park, harvests egg plant during a work session at the garden in The Woodlands on Saturday, July 18, 2015. (Photo by Jerry Baker/Freelance) Photo: Jerry Baker, Freelance

Each week, Sarah Mundy can be found outside either planting or picking fresh produce - but it's not in her backyard.

The garden, where she tends to everything from strawberries to kale, sits in a clearing off Texas 242, nestled between a sports field and a parking lot at Alden Bridge Sports Park. It is one of two - soon to be three - community gardens in The Woodlands Township that are available for residents to rent as a space to get their hands dirty and grow something fresh for their kitchens.

The Woodlands Township approved plans July 16 to establish a third garden in Creekside Park at Wendtwoods Park by the end of the year.

Giving back

What Mundy cultivates reaches beyond her own kitchen. She helps coordinate Veggie Village, a program of Interfaith of The Woodlands where community volunteers grow organic produce to donate to the Interfaith Food Pantry. The Food Pantry then includes the fresh, seasonal produce in grocery bags that are prepared and given to families in need. It also is brought to senior assisted living homes, where the residents can choose from fruits and vegetables in a farmers' market setting.

"There is such a need for fresh produce for people who are food insecure," Mundy said, hanging a basket of just-picked eggplant on her arm. "It's essential to quality of life."

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