A program to grow young farmers will soon literally break ground in a large vacant lot across Linden Avenue from Greenwood Middle School with the intention of turning it into a fully functioning, productive garden by September of this year.
The garden project is headed by members of Here We Stand Inc., a community outreach organization of middle school teachers who run mentoring programs for students. They’re looking for other students, ages 8 to 18, from any school who want to learn how to garden and farm.
Kenderick Cox, chief executive director of the group, told the Leflore County Board of Supervisors and Greenwood City Council that his group is working with InTouch Community Services of Jackson, through a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Natural Resources Conservation Services to attract youth to farming. InTouch is partnering with community gardeners in five Mississippi counties.
Cox and other group leaders didn’t grow up on farms and know nothing about farming, so the USDA will send an expert to Greenwood throughout the growing season for eight workshops with students.
He’s hoping to recruit 35 to 50 kids to take part.
Besides learning to plant, maintain and harvest a garden plot, students will have real-life lessons in charity through the donation of garden crops to the Community Food Pantry.
The youth organization created the food pantry distribution system last year by building structures the size of a tiny shed or a large bird house. The structures will operate much like the Little Free Library boxes at the Little Red Schoolhouse Park and Clerico Park: Take food if you need it, and leave food for others if you can.
Cox said the Community Food Pantry boxes will be located in neighborhoods “where older people live, without resources.” After the group donates 25 percent of their crops, the other 75 percent will be sold Saturday mornings at the Downtown Greenwood Farmers Market.
“The members will learn the importance of hard work, the value of the dollar and how to become an entrepreneur,” Cox said.
The city council is allowing the garden to be built on an impressively sized plot of land adjacent to a foundation that once was an industrial pipe business.
The initial plowing of the field to start the gardening process will be hired out, Cox said.
The first meeting of students and mentors was scheduled for Monday, and on Tuesday the group was to begin plotting out the land and laying out the garden.
He said he wanted the students to have “100 percent say in the garden,” from choosing the seeds to deciding how much land to designate for each type of vegetable.
Here We Stand mentor Nick Onyshko said the lessons youth take from the project will also involve finance, as proceeds from the sale of the produce will be used to open student savings accounts.
After the year is up, Here We Stand may consider seeking a deal with the city to lease the land and create a permanent site for their mentoring program, continue the garden into future seasons and develop other projects for members and the community, Cox said.
nContact Gavin Maliska at 581-7235 or gmaliska@
gwcommonwealth.com.
