SUMMER 2020—The COVID-19 pandemic brought about many unexpected circumstances that directly affected life at North Country School and Camp Treetops. Perhaps most devastating was the difficult but necessary decision to cancel Camp for the first time in 100 years. Along with that reality came a question: Without campers to feed, what should we do with the bounty students had worked so hard to plant in our gardens and greenhouses that spring? The answer came quickly. We would donate it to the Lake Placid Ecumenical Food Pantry, where it would benefit under-resourced members of our Adirondack communities.
Beginning shortly after classes ended in May 2020, Garden Manager Tess Faller began making weekly runs to the food pantry, loading up the bed of a pickup truck with a colorful collection of crates that included leafy greens, shiny peppers, and plump tomatoes. The final delivery was made right before Thanksgiving. The grand total for the donations was more than 1,200 pounds of herbs, fruits, and vegetables. Barn Manager Erica Burns also got involved, donating 106 dozen eggs—that’s 1,272 eggs—to the food pantry in 2020.
Here’s the tally for the season:
- 106 dozen eggs
- 275 lbs. of lettuce
- 315 lbs. of kale
- 60 lbs. of chard
- 65 lbs. of peppers
- 72 lbs. of tomatoes
- 13 lbs. of cherry tomatoes
- 8 lbs. of parsley
- 158 lbs. of carrots
- 16 lbs. of beets
- 22 lbs. of kohlrabi
- 140 lbs. of onions
- 30 lbs. of pumpkins
- 42 lbs. of blue Hubbard squash
- 65 lbs. of butternut squash