This season, Gaining Ground will grow over 20,000 pounds of organic fruits and vegetables on its 17-acre site on Virginia Road.

Every last pound of that will go to local food pantries and meal programs; in other words, to those that need it most.

 “I moved here because I wanted to be a part of hunger relief,” Michelle deLima, one of Gaining Ground’s three current full-time farmers, said. “Otherwise we’re growing food for a small, elite part of the population. What makes Gaining Ground so great is that it makes fresh produce accessible to everyone.”

 All of Gaining Ground’s fruit and vegetables are distributed to food pantries within a 20-mile radius, always within 24 hours of harvest. The farm relies on thousands of hours from local volunteers every season, who range in age and background but share the common goal of both feeding the hungry and educating everyone, regardless of socioeconomic status, about delicious local produce.

 “One major part of our mission here is to be open to anyone, whether they are in kindergarten or senior citizens,” Kayleigh Boyle, who is in her third season as a full-time farmer at Gaining Ground, said.

 GG started in 1994 as a privately owned garden in Concord resident Jamie Bemis’ –yes, from the same Bemis family that owns Hutchins Farm on Monument Street –backyard. Since then the farm has grown substantially, and in 1999 moved its main garden to its current lush location on the Henry David Thoreau birthplace property on Virginia Road.

 Now in its 18^th growing season, Gaining Ground leases its land at a discount from the town of Concord, and stays up and running with generous donations from local individuals, community organizations and businesses. The tireless efforts of GG’s Board of Directors, who engage in a huge letter-writing campaign every season, are also crucial in keeping this nonprofit alive and well.

 When Patch stopped by the farm on Friday, Boyle and deLima were preparing for Tuesday’s and Thursday’s pantry pick-up days (“We do none of our own distribution,” Boyle says, a key part of Gaining Ground's sustainable economic model.), as well as the free farmstand GG sets up every Saturday during the season as part of the Concord Food for Families program.

A group of residents from the Walnut Street Center, a nonprofit agency that helps adults with developmental disabilities, were hard at work applying a layer of wood-chip mulch to a row of raspberry plants that will be ready for harvest later this summer. GG’s other volunteers include many students from local schools. 

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, local pantries come by and pick up whatever is in season that week, including foods that everybody knows and others that their audience might be seeing for the first time. 

“We always have lettuce, potatoes, things that people are more used to,” deLima said. “But we do grow pretty much everything. We’ll give people kale or kohlrabi too, and tell them how to cook it and what to cook with it.”

The only requirement to volunteer at Gaining Ground is…well there aren’t any requirements, though those interested should make sure to email volunteer@gainingground.org in advance (a few weeks ahead of time for groups, and a few days ahead of time for individuals).

We put together a photo slideshow of our visit for you to check out, but Concord residents are always welcome to stop by the farm and take a look for themselves.

“We’re on public land, so people should know that they can just walk in and check the farm out,” deLima said.