LEWISBURG, Pa. — Plants and flowers are growing at the Lewisburg Community Garden. All the garden's 40 plots are occupied, and people tend to them at their convenience. The garden opened in mid-April, which was a bit later than normal.
"Our highest priority is the safety of the community, and we didn't want to open at our normal time if that meant there would be a risk to the community at all," said Bucknell University farm and garden coordinator Jen Schneidman Particia, who runs the Lewisburg Community Garden.
She says there are new safety measures in place, including handwashing stations.
"We have four different handwashing stations set up at the garden, which include a water dispenser, a soap dispenser, paper towels, and a foot-operated trash can."
There are disinfectant spray bottles for commonly touched surfaces. Typically, people share tools at this community garden, but this year organizers asked people to bring their own.
"This year we're asking gardeners to bring all their own tools except for the wheelbarrows which we do provide. But again, we have disinfectant set up near the wheelbarrow so that people can spray down the handles between uses."
The garden is also limiting the number of people to ten at a time.
"In a normal year, we have volunteer hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. anyone can come and help us out. we can't really do that safely right now."
Half of the plots in this garden are used by people growing their own plants. The other half is food grown to give away to local food banks.