Planting started late on the small farm and more help is needed, but the three-acre plot north of Bellingham is doing what it’s intended to do — producing fresh fruits and vegetables for Bellingham Food Bank.

Organizers who patched the pilot project together hope this season’s inaugural bounty will lay the groundwork for more free produce next year for hungry people in Whatcom County.

“We are excited about the potential to produce tons of food there for the Bellingham Food Bank,” said Rio Thomas, the organizer of Small Potatoes Gleaning Project.

Gleaners, local grocery stores and private gardeners already donate thousands of pounds of fruits and vegetables to fight hunger, but the pilot project is the first farm growing produce solely for the food bank.

Early this year, George Beanblossom, the executive director of Cascade Christian Services, told food bank director Mike Cohen that the agency had three acres of farmland that could be used to benefit the food bank. Cascade Christian runs boarding homes and other programs for people with disabilities.

Cohen said he appreciated the offer, but he told Beanblossom that he was too busy raising money for a new food bank building to take on a new project.

Then Thomas, Clayton Burrows and Gretchen Hoyt entered the picture.

Thomas’ Small Potatoes group has a cadre of volunteers who glean local farm produce for donation to needy people, so she’s experienced at finding people willing to lend a helping hand.

Burrows is the founder of Growing Washington, a nonprofit organization that, among other things, supports sustainable, local agriculture.

And Hoyt is a veteran farmer and co-owner of Alm Hill Gardens, a family farm north of Nooksack.

Thomas and Amaris Lunde, a staffer for Growing Washington, agreed to coordinate the food bank farm and find volunteers. Hoyt offered her farming expertise, and the food bank helped with expenses.

With their ducks belatedly in a row, supporters planted about an acre of lettuce, chard, kale and beets in early July, and turned a greenhouse on the property into a warm home for tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and watermelons.

Helpers have already delivered hundreds of pounds of produce to the food bank — “The stuff’s just gorgeous,” Cohen said — but more volunteers are needed as the produce ripens.

After working out some kinks this year, organizers hope to line up more volunteers so they can grow more food next year.

“It’s a great new venture,” Thomas said. “This is a way we can expand into food production as well as distribution.”

A food bank in Pierce County has a farm that produces large quantities of food, and the farm 15 minutes north of Bellingham holds similar promise, Cohen said. With its own farm, the food bank could grow vegetables that are in high demand or hard to get, while students, youth groups and other people would have a new opportunity to learn farming and to help fight hunger.

“You start with something small and manageable,” Cohen said. “Our three acres has a potential to really produce a lot.”