Pictured here working in the garden are (left to right) Julia Sims, Easter Seals trainee Gloria Gilbert, Apolonia Maldonado and Angelica Valencia.

They call them the “Dirty Dozens” – residents and clients of Hebrew Health Care in West Hartford who, thanks to the generous support of the HHC Auxiliary and the Morrison Group, plant an array of culinary herbs and vegetables around the HHC campus. The produce of their labor is then donated to the Jewish Family Services’ Kosher Food Pantry; some of the herbs are also used in the HHC kitchen and cooking groups. Last year, the HHC gardeners were also honored for participating in Jessie’s Community Gardens Project, with the aid of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford.