A look back at what we accomplished our first year in service.
Sisters-in-law (sisters at heart), Ash Lee is a Registered Nurse, and Jennifer's career is devoted to Nurse education and training. Beyond their obvious common interest, the two spent many days and nights discussing a mutual compulsion to "do something big". To feed people who are hungry, to care for those in poor health, to nurture Mother Earth and restore the environment, and to fight for equitable access to healthcare and education.
After weeks and months discussing around a dinner table and in the garden, Good2Grow Farm Co- was born. We are a Woman-Owned Farm in Washington County, Arkansas with a simple plan to grow food for family and our community, and in order to achieve big results, a vow to co-op with organizations that can extend their reach, and to connect friends and neighbors with action opportunities that can multiply impact.
Several community organizations that share our values were excited to join our mission and plan of action:
Good2Grow Farm operates on a Buy One, Donate One (BODO) business model
Our Garden-in-a-Box concept contained 10 container-friendly seedlings (grown in soil blocks, no plastic!), appropriate-sized containers, soil, growing instructions, and a complimentary family pass to the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks. CSA shares, or Community Supported Agriculture, are a weekly vegetable subscription box that includes delivery.
We started our growing season planting in soil blocks. We quickly learned why this method is not
popular- it's very labor-intensive and if you don't get the block mix just right, seedlings will be stunted. We changed to decomposable grow bags as an alternative to plastic pots early in the season and had much success.
...and this is how we learn.
NPR caught wind of our plan. Jacqueline Froelich came out to our growing farm to interview us. Our story was featured on an Ozarks at Large segment.
Click to listen:
Here at Good2Grow Farm Co-, we value education.
We have been in awe of the dedication and sacrifices made by educators during the pandemic. To show our appreciation, Good2Grow Farm Co- was honored to provide raffle gifts for the staff of Asbell Elementary during Teacher Appreciation Week.
Early spring, we were able to donate FIFTY of our BODO Gardens-in-a-Box to patrons of St. James Food Pantry!
In May, our first weekly farm box subsciption, or CSA, deliveries began.
In June, Good2Grow Farm Co-Founder, Ash Lee, was invited to present to the summer agriculture program at Central Jr. High in Springdale. She shared about the work Good2Grow Farm was doing and our tenets of social justice, food as medicine, waste reduction, and regenerative agriculture. The driving home points included that you can be a mom and own a business, you can work and give back to your community, you can start a garden if you’ve never planted anything before. And most importantly, how empowering it is to provide for yourself, especially in times of supply chain stress like we’ve experienced the past year. Students also received education about container gardening from the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks and took home Round Zucchini seedlings with containers for transplant.
Seeds were planted in young minds on this day!
Also in June, we learned that the Northwest Arkansas Children’s Shelter was starting a Children’s Therapy Garden, Good2Grow Farm Co felt compelled to act. The positive mental and physical health benefits of gardening are well known.
We donated 24 of our children’s favorite, Round Zucchini, as well as 24 five-gallon grow bags with handles. The grow bags are light containers and the handles allow for easy portability- The children were able to take their therapy plants with them when they left the shelter. Growing instructions and a recipe for Pizza Stuffed Zucchini were also provided.
On July 10, Good2Grow Farm Co- was invited to present at the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank’s first garden-based workshop. We provided Parisian Carrots and Mammolo Basil in containers, container garden education and free family passes courtesy of the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, culturally diverse recipes from Brightwater: A Center for the Study of Food, and community resources information for Fayetteville residents.
Our weekly farm box deliveries of organically grown produce continued throughout the summer for a total of 23 weeks.
We ended our first season with a total of109 pounds of fresh produce donated to Fayetteville Public Schools Outback Food Pantry!
We can't wait to see what 2022 brings!