Seeking to have a meaningful impact on food security within our community, we have partnered with The Friendly Kitchen, a Concord based food security charity. We provide fresh produce for The Friendly Kitchen from garden plots that are planned, planted, tended and harvested by volunteers organized by Russell-Shea Growers in close cooperation with The Friendly Kitchen.  In addition to dedicated harvests, we organize and coordinate a garden surplus harvest collection from local vegetable gardeners for donation to The Friendly Kitchen in Concord.

Education is critical to creating a food secure community and Russell-Shea Growers actively promotes education for vegetable gardening, food preservation, and nutrition.  The central element of our education efforts is the establishment of a hands-on youth education program which will teach lessons on planting, cultivation, harvest and preservation of vegetables with the expectation that these lessons will carry forward and provide lifelong food security knowledge and skills.

We manage and maintain garden plots located within the Russell-Shea State Forest through a Use Agreement with the State of New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, Division of Forests and Lands.  Surplus garden space not used in our educational programs or dedicated vegetable production for The Friendly Kitchen will be made available to NH residents wishing to enhance their personal food security.