Editorial
Front Page - Friday, July 2, 2010
Crabtree Farms driving community food system education
David Laprad
Crabtree Farms was founded in 1998 and developed out of a public and private partnership to renew urban agriculture. The mission of Crabtree Farms is to promote research and education in sustainable agriculture.
- David Laprad
It’s a hot June morning on Crabtree Farms, but that’s not stopping volunteers from claiming the spring harvest. Spread out across a swath of land that surrounds a barn located just one mile from the hustle and bustle of Rossville Boulevard South, small groups of workers can be seen digging up carrots, cutting the roots off beets and snipping the stems off zinnias. Close to the barn, a mother and her children are picking blackberries off plants supported by trellises. Beyond them, a pair of greenhouses, where the spring harvest got its start during the winter months, stands empty of people.
The entire farm is surrounded by trees, creating the illusion that this agricultural Shangri-La is actually far removed from the City of Chattanooga rather than located smack dab in the middle of it.
Inside a comfortably cooled office on the top story of the barn, Melanie Mayo, director of education and outreach, talks vegetables.
“We grow over 20 varieties of tomatoes. Right now, we have Paul Robeson, Sun Gold and Cherokee Purple varieties,” she says. “We grow by the season, so we’re still harvesting the last of our beets, turnips, carrots and root vegetables, while phasing into the summer crops, which are tomatoes, squash and peppers.”
As already mentioned, Crabtree also has blackberries, which members of the public can pick Tuesdays through Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., the hours during which the farm stand is open. The cost: $4.50 per quart.
“You don’t need to bring anything but yourself. We’ll give you a container. You don’t have to worry about your kids getting hurt, either, because our blackberries are thornless,” Mayo says.
While Crabtree’s customers appreciate the opportunity to purchase locally grown organic fruits and vegetables, the farm has a higher calling: to teach people to grow their own food and connect them to other sources of local food.
“Buying locally grown food strengthens the local economy, protects the environment and supports endangered family farms. Also, the taste is superior to produce that was picked before it was ripe and then transported to a grocery store,” Mayo says. “The heirloom varieties we grow are meant to be picked ripe and eaten. The varieties available in grocery stores are grown to be packed and somehow survive in boxes and dark places until they reach their destination.”
To help people learn to grow their own food, Crabtree sells gardening books and soil amendments, such as nature-safe fertilizer and worm castings, among other helpful products. They also allow people to volunteer to work on the farm and learn firsthand how to grow food in Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia.
“So far this year, over 200 volunteers have put in about 1,600 hours on the farm. We’ve had master gardeners come in and learn new techniques while working with our greenhouse manager or an urban farmer, and lots of novices with no gardening experience learn as they helped out,” Mayo says.
To connect people with local sources of food, Crabtree publishes “Taste Bsuds,” an annual guide to locally grown and prepared foods. The pages of the 2010 issue contain a wealth of information about local farms, where people can purchase or pick their own produce; restaurants that serve dishes prepared using locally grown food; and local “food artisans,” such as Niedlov’s Breadworks, that produce hand-crafted foods using local ingredients.
“This year, we also included a list of community gardens, so people can learn about where they can grow their own food,” Mayo says.
Among the many places offering the free publication are Greenlife Grocery, the Chattanooga Market, Mainstreet Market, the Bluff View Art District and Good Dog on Frazier.
The guide also contains a list of local CSAs, community supported agricultural programs through which individuals pay a farm to receive a weekly supply of its offerings during the growing season. Crabtree operates one such program. Community members pay the farm $850 in May, then receive a box of fresh produce every week through November.
“It’s an easy way to get local food and it’s more affordable than if you purchased each of those things separately at a market,” Mayo says. “A lot of people want to eat fresher and healthier, but they need something to commit to. Committing to several months of fresh food means having to deal with fruit and vegetables every week before they go bad.”
To help members of the CSA figure out what to do with their share of kohlrabi or kale, Crabtree distributes a weekly email containing a list of what will be in the box and two or three recipes that call for the produce.
Crabtree is also big on educating kids about eating fresh. As part of that endeavor, the farm will be working with Camp GLAD this summer to expose inner-city kids to healthy food. “Inner-city children don’t always have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, so we’re going to break down those barriers by allowing the kids to come here, pick their own food and lose the fear that fresh food doesn’t taste as good as candy. When they taste a Sun Gold tomato, which is as sweet as a Skittle, it’ll change their minds.”
Started in 1998, Crabtree is a non-profit entity that leases the land it uses from the City of Chattanooga for $1 per year. Mayo says the farm’s status as an non-profit organization allows it to focus on serving the community rather than its bottom line.
“It seems like our society is disconnected from its sources of food, so we want to reconnect people with fresh food and help them to understand the value of our rich culinary heritage,” Mayo says. “We want people to continue to grow the fruits and vegetables that have been produced here for generations and encourage them to purchase them locally so we can keep our farmers in business. If we lose our farmers, we’ll lose our local sources of food.”
For more information, visit www.crabtreefarms.org.
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