RUMFORD – Pandemonium!

That’s how gardener Steve Hardy of Rumford described the scene Wednesday morning at the Plant a Row for the Hungry vegetable garden beside Hosmer Field.

About 30 Peru School kindergarten and first-grade students – on a community service project – swarmed through rows of potatoes, carrots and tomatoes, harvesting crops for delivery to the Senior Citizen Center on Congress Street.

“We’re giving them to the old people that can’t buy them,” said first-grader Jacob Miely.

They yelled, “Hey! Look at this one!” They marveled, “Look how big this is!” They dove in and dug through the rows in the quarter-acre garden planted and tended by Hardy, Larry Hodges and Rhonda Ducret.

Teacher Sue Bousquet of Mexico said Wednesday’s outing to the University of Maine’s Cooperative Extension garden at Hosmer Field perfectly complemented what the children have been studying: harvesting and autumn.

Unearthing carrots without breaking them was more challenging then rooting through tilled soil for spuds. Hardy’s wife, Edwina, showed them how to use a tined hand tool to free the carrots.

Some of the children stood in awe at a row of pole beans. Others stared in wonder at giant sunflower plants.

There were also broccoli, onions, tomatoes, green peppers, beans, beets and squash. On Tuesday, Hardy said he and others harvested 1,000 pounds of produce from the garden. Overall, they’ve harvested 3,000 pounds of vegetables this year.

“The whole point of having that garden is to raise produce for people in need, like older folks, and for stocking food cupboards,” Hardy said. “Today was a good opportunity to acquaint people with gardens. I think a lot of kids don’t even know where tomatoes come from.”

A school bus transported the children to the Senior Citizen Center. Hattie Freeman said the vegetables would be cleaned and prepared for meals at the Seniors Plus Dining Center at 50 Congress St.

“It was wonderful to have the kids come out,” Freeman said.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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