OGDENSBURG -- Step by Step is inviting the public to join in their community supported agriculture program.

An open a meeting will be held Thursday at 6:30 p.m. to discuss “Steps 2 Grow” at 108 Ford Street.

The seven-acre garden allows subscribers to pay at the onset of the growing season for a share of the anticipated harvest; once harvesting begins, they receive weekly shares of vegetables and fruit.

Step-by-Step is a non-profit that provides support and care to people discovering and recovering form mental illness.

The farm is run by Step-By-Step members and is one of the organizations therapeutic activities.

The idea for the garden stemmed from the closure of the former St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center greenhouse.

Barb Ward, a member of the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center Board of Visitors, said the greenhouse had been a positive outlet for her son.

"I was irate as a mother because my son had finally found something to get out of bed in the morning for,” Ward said.

Ward said she wrote several letters to the local paper about the closure because she felt so horrible for her son and the other participants of that program. After seeing these repeated letters, Dave Bayne, executive director of Step-By-Step, became interested in helping he individuals affected by the closure.

The two of them linked up and worked to establish a new greenhouse. In the summer of 2014 the greenhouse was expanded and a garden was started in the ground.

“The production of food from the garden wasn't important to Step By Step the first year, we wanted the members involved to have the best experience possible with the resources we had available,” Kassi Pharoah, a recovery center coordinator at Step-by-Step, Inc. said. “With that being said, more vegetables and herbs were produced than we could eat at Step By Step or sell to members and their families, so we donated to the neighborhood center and to the Knights of Columbus.”

Pharoah says the program has been great for those her participate.

“The therapeutic values are immeasurable to the between 15 and 25 members that participate regularly every week,” she said. “I've seen immense changes in some individuals that participate very little in other activities. Some members that don't usually communicate verbally are becoming more verbal as the days go by,” she said,

Those interested in purchasing crop shares can purchase them for $325 for $175. The shares can be picked up weekly from June to September.

Included in the shares are shoots, spinach, greens, kale, chard, turnip greens, early peas, spinach, radishes, shoots, salad mix, beans, baby beets, lettuce, collards, cherry tomatoes, baby red potatoes, sugar snap peas, shell peas, basil, cilantro, tomatoes, carrots, onions, potatoes, cucumbers, corn, squash pumpkins, cucumbers and more.

For more information on the program call 394-0597.