Maryland winery creates free community garden to promote agriculture

BERLIN, Md. – A Worcester County winery is creating a free community garden as a way to help their neighbors during this tough time.

Jeannie and Barry Mariner, the owners of Windmill Creek Vineyard and Winery in Berlin, are using some extra land on their property to create 69 garden plots. The spaces are free and they’ll help till the land, provide some compost and water as needed. They tell 47 ABC they wanted to do this is a way to encourage people to get outside and grow their own food in a time where some grocery store shelves may be empty.

The Mariners tell 47 ABC, “There’s a lot of people out there, they don’t have any type of idea how to do things like canning vegetables. So it would be great to have that to be able to pass that along and let people feel like they have the ability to provide for themselves and not have to run to the grocery store.”

Since everything is free, they’re asking that those who participate share some of their harvest so they can use it at their winery’s food truck. They’ll be hosting a Q&A with Bluebird Farms on their Facebook page this Wednesday.

For more information contact Barry Mariner at 410-251-4234.