Subaru provides sustainable garden for Lambs Farm

LIBERTYVILLE - Subaru of America is supporting Lambs Farm by funding the development of nonprofit's first sustainable garden, located outside of the organization's Magnolia Cafe & Bakery.

The garden will provide a "farm-to-table" experience with the restaurant as well as provide healthy produce to the participants.

In addition to building the sustainable garden, team members from Subaru of America collaborated with the University of Illinois Extension Master Gardeners to install the garden and provide Lambs Farm participants the training needed for its proper maintenance. This training will also provide participants with a new set of skills that they can utilize in the growing garden or take with them to jobs in the surrounding community.

"Proper nutrition and exercise are important to the health of the Lambs Farm participants, so when we found out that they didn't have a sustainable garden on-site, we knew that we could make a meaningful impact to this great cause," said Jason Leopold, zone retailer marketing manager, Subaru of America, Inc. "The Subaru Loves to Care initiative is all about supporting organizations that are committed to helping our local communities and making the world a better place. It

is our vision to show love and respect to all people, and working with Lambs Farm allows us to do that in a meaningful way."

During a recent event, volunteers from Subaru, University of Illinois Extension Master Gardeners and Lambs Farm spent the day building garden beds, transporting soil, planting and topping the gardens with straw. The sustainable garden is a place to grow food, flowers, herbs or to simply enjoy the peacefulness of the surrounding environment.

Lambs Farm participants who work at the Magnolia Cafe & Bakery will be trained to tend to the new garden and vegetables in the garden will be used in the menu items prepared at the Magnolia Cafe & Bakery. The garden is expected to yield about 300 lbs. of produce this year.