Although American Licorice Company is known for its confectionery sweets, American Licorice’s Sweet Goods Community Garden brings a new kind of sweet to your table. In 2016, American Licorice Company had land to use and decided to use the space for a garden that would provide free quality food for anyone who needs it.
Sweet Goods houses space for American Licorice associates to plant and tend to their own gardens, but it also has a general gardening space that grows fruits and vegetables that are then placed on a produce stand. The items on this produce stand are available to anyone in the community who needs them. Being able to provide quality food for its neighborhood and beyond is what drives Sweet Goods..
While the garden began with two of American Licorice’s associates working as part-time gardeners for this general gardening space, it has since hired more part-time gardeners as the garden has continued to flourish.
“It’s grown so much, not just in size but in our knowledge of how to farm – what works well in the soil and what doesn’t. It’s grown leaps and bounds since it started. We have about a full acre now,” said Community Relations Manager Nicole Krol. “We have definitely had to grow the number of staff that we have to help us maintain the garden.”
This acre of land has been used to grow a host of fruits and vegetables over the years with strawberries and asparagus already growing this spring and corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini on the way this summer. The gardeners have learned to be mindful of growing fruits and vegetables that can withstand the heat when sitting on the produce stand, although it doesn’t sit there long as more people take advantage of the garden.
“When we first started, I would put six zucchini or cucumbers in the produce bin,” Krol said. “The next day, I'd come back and there would be five of them still in there. That was year number one. Since then, we don't really have things left behind. If we put produce out in the stand now, it's gone by early morning if not the same day.”
With more people swinging by the produce stand, the gardeners have gotten to know their regulars and are happy to welcome them and newcomers alike.
“Every year, we're noticing more and more of a need as the word gets out that we have these fruits and vegetables for free,” Krol said. “We have families that come every few days, and it’s really shown what a need there is. That has changed how we grow and what we grow as well – we try to do mainstream things that everybody knows how to use.”
For more information about American Licorice Sweet Goods Community Garden or American Licorice Company as a whole, visit americanlicorice.com.