Food Sustainability & Equity

Organic Garden at Project Grow at County Farm Park
For about 20 years, BIC has had a Project Grow community garden plot at County Farm Park. Approximately 20  volunteers worked from April through October, 2023, to maintain this garden, and we donate all produce to local food banks including  Food Gatherers, Jewish Family Services,and The Backdoor Food Pantry. Local food production reduces greenhouse gas emissions by decreasing “food miles”. It is rewarding to think that we contribute at least in part to the immediate benefit of some of the over 38,000 food-insecure people in Washtenaw County and in 2023,  through our collective efforts, we donated 565 pounds of produce.  The BIC garden welcomes all congregants who are interested in gardening, learning about gardening, or in food delivery. Stay tuned for our scheduled work days this summer and our special family work days. What better way to teach our children how to appreciate the food they eat than to have a hand in gardening?  Our organic garden is also available as a potential resource for highschool age youth who are interested in developing a service project. 

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
Chris Merrill together with Rav Nadav and Tantre Farm has led a-first BIC “Sukkot CSA Back to our agricultural roots”.  This project included 4 fresh produce deliveries during the month of October and one pre-Thanksgiving pick-up.   For the month of October we exceeded our expectations and had 26 families and individuals sign up.  For our thanksgiving delivery we had 8 sign up.  Through this project we have also donated food boxes for needy families and dropped off food at the local food banks.  We plan to continue the “Sukkot and Thanksgiving Project” on an annual basis.