From left, Charlee Fredy Danielle Neimi Madison Longtine show off their farm stand during a Farm to School Farmers Market. (Journal photo)

MARQUETTE — Partridge Creek Farm partnered with volunteers and Ishpeming Scouts to build a wash/pack station at the Elks Lodge Garden Site on Lakeshore Drive in Ishpeming.

The Ishpeming Scouts and Mattson family chose Partridge Creek Farm as an Eagle Scout project. Participants started building the wash/pack station and finished the same day.

In a correspondence to the Mattson family, Partridge Creek Farm Director Daniel Perkins said, “It was an honor to have (Ishpeming Scouts and the Mattson family) choose Partridge Creek Farm as your Eagle Scout project and to have you give us that level of a donation. “You came prepared and you built the entire Wash Pack station in one day with a well organized and disciplined team of young men and women… If anyone rolls their eyes and starts their sentence with ‘These kids today…’ I challenge them to look at the group you brought with you today. Today made me feel very good about the future. Thanks for that.”

Since 2017, Partridge Creek farms has had a partnership with the Elks Lodge, sharing space for a garden where volunteers and farm employees grow produce and care for bee hives. The Elks garden is one of Partridge Creek Farm’s largest community gardens.

According to the director of Programs and Partnerships, May Tsupros, “We have a mix of raised beds and in-ground beds at this site and because of the large amount of produce grown and harvested here we need to ensure food-safe ways to wash the produce without having to transport it back to our office.

“This wash/pack station will allow us to increase our capacity to prepare vegetables for the community more efficiently and safely. We are very grateful for the Scouts for supporting this project. We now have the ability to wash/pack produce at our office (thanks to a grant from Superior Health Foundation) and wash/pack produce at the Elks Garden thanks to the Scouts and the Mattson family.”