Licking Memorial Health Systems’ (LMHS) Culinary Services Department applied for a grant from the Licking County Soil and Water Conservation District to plant a pollinator garden on LMHS-owned grounds on Dickerson Street.  The grant was used to prepare the land, purchase and plant nectar-producing flowers and shelter-providing plants for pollinators.  Butterflies, bees, and birds, along with many other insects and mammals, are known as pollinators, as they transport grains of pollen from plant to plant as they feed.  This process helps to ensure the pollination of many flowering species, which in turn provide one out of every three bites of food we eat.
 
Since 2015, Culinary Services, in partnership with Plant Operations, has cultivated and maintained a one-acre vegetable and flower mini-farm on Dickerson Street.  A variety of seasonal produce, herbs and flowers are harvested annually for use in the Licking Memorial Hospital Café.