Harvest was abundant this year for Lopez School.

Storage spaces now bulge with autumn produce. Tomatoes vie for space on shelves, squashes too large to be lifted are stacked, and containers of bright greens are tightly packed and refrigerated.

Food has now been grown in the school’s garden for about four years. Although it is a valuable investment in the health and education of Lopez students, the quantity is a growing strain on the kitchen staff. Those bulging cupboards represent many hours of necessary production and prepping before the food can be consumed or stored.

Both students and community volunteers have played a vital part in the upkeep of kitchen and garden. However, according to head cook Dana Cotten, it is not quite enough.

Thus, on Nov. 6 there will be a fundraiser to celebrate the volunteers, and provide income to pay an assistant cook for half an hour more work per day. Cotten says she hopes the event can raise $4,500 which would be sufficient to cover that extra half hour for the rest of the school year.

The fundraiser will take the form of a community meal. local, well-known chef Kim Bast will cook along with Cotten and other school head chef Samantha Taylor.

Additionally there will be a silent auction. Prizes include: a local food cookery class for eight by Bast, a Christmas wreath making class for six led by Lorri Swanson, two free hours of work from Guard Electric, and a pound of coffee and a mug from Café La Boheme.

On an average day the core kitchen staff consists of head cook, assistant cook and a dish washer. Additionally there is a small group of students each day, one student for three days a week, and six students for two days a week. Cotten puts great stock in the help of students and volunteers, but as she said, the abundance of produce requires that little extra bit of time, “we’re having a hard time keeping up with it.”

Since August, the garden has produced 1252.5 pounds of produce. The load included onions, radishes, squash, beets and 728.5 pounds of tomatoes. As Cotten says, the quantity of the food is not too much for the school to consume, it is jsut too much for the kitchen staff to process entirely.

The menu for the fundraiser will feature pasta with roasted tomatoes with or without Lopez beef, homemade garlic bread, a garden salad, pumpkin cake, hot tea and cold raspberry tea. The dinner will run from 5-7 p.m., Tickets are $10 per person, $5 for elementary age children and children age two and under have free entry.