Recently I read about two extraordinary “giving” programs happening here in Haywood that felt like really good news to share. This week’s Farm Fresh blog post is dedicated to sharing ways folks are buying Haywood to do good and plans for a community orchard project in Clyde. Read on and help us spread the good news by sharing this post.
Mutual Aid
Back in January, our friends at Mighty Gnome Market Garden shared news via their eNewsletter that they are participating in a Mutual Aid project here in Haywood. “Mutual Aid is not new a new concept,” said The Mighty Gnome team, “there is a long history to this mode of community mobilization.” To learn more, they shared the following: please read this article by Victoria Méndez at Global Giving.
The Mighty Gnome Market Garden team has committed any funding they receive for Mutual Aid to provide free fresh and premium quality produce to two primary locations in Haywood County:
Additionally, they are valuing the produce at wholesale pricing – meaning more produce per dollar contribution.
If you want to learn more about the Mutual Aid project at The Mighty Gnome Market Garden, CLICK HERE. Donations can be made right through their website.
In their most recent eNewsletter the farm reported wonderful early support from the community towards the project. Pass on the word to help keep the support flowing.
Healthy Opportunities Pilot (HOP)
This week The Mountaineer reported about a project called Healthy Opportunities Pilot (HOP), “The Full Circle: farmer to merchant to consumer.” CLICK HERE to read the feature.
“First United Methodist Church in Waynesville decided to join a groundbreaking program aimed at transforming lives of those with low incomes, the service model was inspired by an unlikely source: a chicken farmer,” writes Vicki Hyatt.
According to the feature:
First United Methodist provides food boxes for select Medicaid clients as a partner in the Healthy Opportunities Pilot program — enough food each week to provide two healthy meals a day for all in the family. Over the past year, the church has switched from providing basic one-size-fits-all food boxes to food boxes tailored to the client’s dietary restrictions, preferences and available cooking methods, with an emphasis on local foods.
“We have a fun little ecosystem here in that when we have produce going bad in our pantry, we donate it to a local chicken farmer, who feeds it to her farm animals and sells eggs to Christopher Farms,” said Destri Leger, director of the church’s Friendship House outreach ministry.
That in turn led Leger to learn about the variety of fresh produce at Christopher Farms. So she approached owners Douglas and Sheena Waite about a partnership to stock the food boxes.
Samatha Gibson, food program coordinator at the Friendship House, is delighted with the arrangement.
“The quality of produce here is so much higher than you find at a grocery store,” she said of Christopher Farms. “We’re glad to put money back into the local economy and to support our farmers.”
Subscribe to The Mountaineer to read the full feature and follow along with other stories in their forthcoming series.
Community Orchard
In mid-February the Clyde governing board unveiled upcoming projects that include plans to turn vacant property that was part of the 2004 flood buy-out into a community orchard.
The Mountaineer reported that “over 36 varieties of apple trees have been purchased by the town, as well as a slew of other plants, including blueberry bushes. The orchard will be open to volunteers who wish to plant and tend the community garden alongside the town public works department, eventually producing fruit for all to enjoy.”
The orchard will be located on a corner lot at Broad and Spruce streets. The project fits with Clyde’s designation as Tree City U.S.A. town.
It’s always a great thing to Buy Haywood—if buying local also helps to do good in the community then that’s a win/win all around!
Tina Masciarelli, MLA
Buy Haywood Project Coordinator