Schoolyard gardens seek a crop of volunteers - perhaps you?

Chris Hardin (blue shirt) discusses plans Tuesday for Whitewater Farms

Community meeting explains Whitewater Farms concept and need – people to tend gardens this summer

May 23, 2012 – The River District has spent months planting the seed for schoolyard gardens and community-supported agriculture. Children at Whitewater Academy recently began harvesting their first broccoli, cabbage and peas.

On Tuesday the garden organizers also had an important first harvest: a dozen survey forms and contact information from people interested in helping the gardens grow and thrive.

The names came from the first Whitewater Farms information meeting, held last night at Whitewater Middle School. Students there recently planted summer crops of tomatoes, peppers and squash and are tending the gardens daily now. But they leave in early June for summer vacation.

“We need people to sustain the gardens over the summer,” explained Jeffie Hardin of Rivendell Farms, who is overseeing the garden project with her husband, Chris. “Tomato plants will start to bear fruit in July. The kids won’t be here, but if we take care of the gardens they will have tomatoes and other produce ready to harvest when the kids come back in August.”

The River District hopes to gather dozens of volunteers in the next month to make that happen. Fifteen teachers have already volunteered to help.

Schoolyard gardens are just the start

Whitewater Middle students plant marigolds

The schoolyard gardens here and at four other River District schools are the first phase of a much larger River District effort to nurture locally grown food in our region.

Schools nationwide are finding that schoolyard gardens help even young children develop stronger math and science skills. “I have kids down in the dirt measuring how long an inch is,” Jeffie Hardin told the group.

Plus children are much more likely to eat fresh vegetables when they have helped grow them, she added: “If you get kids out there planting broccoli and picking bugs off the broccoli and picking the broccoli, you will see them eat the broccoli.”

The next phase of Whitewater Farms will create community gardens and a full working farm where adults can grow food for their families while learning how to develop their own gardens at home, Chris Hardin said. 
Whitewater Farms will use Rivendell Farms as its model, Chris Hardin said. People pay to receive fresh food from the farm but also spend time working in the gardens and tending chickens and cattle. The Whitewater Farms plots will go on land near the Whitewater schools, made available by ReVenturePark.

“My vision for Whitewater Farms is 50 to 100 raised beds, developed over several years, to build a real working farm that the community could benefit from,” Chris said.

Food hub will process locally grown food from many sources

The third phase calls for creating a food hub that can collect, process and sell food from many small farms in the area, including Whitewater Farms.

These ambitious goals will require financial support. Presbyterian Healthcare and Huber Technology, a clean-water company, are helping underwrite the schoolyard gardens. The River District is seeking additional corporate and foundation support.

But right now, the single biggest need is volunteers who’ll come to the gardens faithfully this summer to water, weed and harvest the first crops so our students can harvest them in August.

Stephanie Wade, principal of Whitewater Middle, hopes that the community will get behind the effort.

“The kids are so excited working as a team,” she said, “and so protective of their vegetables! I look forward to this growing and growing and growing.”

How you can help

• LEARN MORE: Visit catawbariverdistrict.org.

• VOLUNTEER: To learn how you can help our schoolyard gardens, EMAIL Edna Chirico or call 704-562-8847.