Mass Farmer Grows Thousands Of Lbs Of Produce For Charity On Traffic Island

A Massachusetts farmer is providing thousands of pounds of produce for local shelters and food pantries in a garden on set on a local traffic island area.

John Fallon began donating a surplus of crops from his own home garden to Beverly neighbors in need, before expanding to a traffic island area on Hale Street five years ago, WCVB reports. Fallon said he noticed the promise of the location and contacted the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, which owns the land, about planting a large garden on the traffic divider specifically for charity.

"I told them, ‘I'm not taking any money out of this. It's all going to go to charity,’” Fallon told WCVB. “So, they were happy with it."

Fallon calls the garden "Beverly Farms Gardens," which now has a bounty of vegetables grown to go to local homeless shelters and food pantries. He said he takes extra caution in knowing exactly how much he's producing since the produce is strictly going to charity.

"Last year it was 3,500 pounds,” Fallon told WCVB. “I've already reached 7,000 this year."

Fallon said he is building a greenhouse to seed his own plans and would like to install an irrigation system on the farm at some point, but needs support from the community to do so.

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