Sharing the Harvest Cookbook

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This cookbook was created by a group of community gardeners in Lewiston which offers soulful recipes. The Hilltop Community Gardeners, who are part of the St. Mary's Lots to Gardens program, started cooking their harvests together, swapping family recipes and the stories behind them. From curried pumpkin and apple soup to roasted tomatillo salsa to gardener's lasagna... the international cuisine seemed to break down cultural barriers and create a bond that traveled from the kitchen to the community.

The group also wanted to create the Sharing the Harvest Cookbook to showcase recipes that are nutritious and affordable ways to use local fresh vegetables and fruits. It also provided a fun way to focus on literacy. Gardeners spent countless hours gathering recipes and organizing them on a computer program. For some, this was their first introduction to computers. Children in the community did their part by providing artwork for the project.

The Sharing the Harvest Cookbook serves as a small fundraiser to sustain the Lots to Gardens anti-hunger, nutrition, and garden programs.

The Lewiston Adult Education's Multicultural Grant is a key supporter of the project.

Our Cookbook Story:

The initial vision for the cookbook formed around many a kitchen table as Hilltop Community Gardeners shared our garden harvests, recipe ideas, and cooking tips with each other and our neighbors.

Our goal was to create a cookbook, with recipes gathered from the Hilltop Community Gardeners, which features nutritious and affordable ways to use local fresh vegetables and fruits. Our mix of recipes reflects the many cultures that live in Hillview Apartments, including traditional New England and Franco-American recipes, and dishes from Somalia, East Africa, India, and Puerto Rico.

Sharing the Harvest Cookbook meets several goals: to share recipes across cultures, to create easy ways to cook and eat nutritious fresh food, and to provide a fun way to focus on literacy while also building respect and common ground among diverse cultures in our community. The cookbook also serves as a small fundraiser to sustain our anti-hunger, nutrition, and garden programs.

The final product represents the work of many cultures and generations from the children's art to the recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation. Sharing the Harvest Cookbook is designed to help people learn how to cook healthy meals from fresh food, and to enjoy doing it! We hope you have as much fun with it as we have.

By purchasing this cookbook you are providing support to all the programs provided through Lots to Gardens.  Thank you.

For more information, or to order a cookbook, contact Lots to Gardens at 513-3844 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . 

The cookbook is "Currently Sold Out".