Co-op Supports Apple Seeds and Healthy Choices

Folks residing in Northwest Arkansas are about to get their hands dirty! Apple Seeds, Inc., a nonprofit in Fayetteville, has begun development on an urban teaching farm with help from a longstanding cooperative grocer, Ozark Natural Foods.

Apple Seeds is an organization dedicated to teaching local students the importance of making healthy food choices. Since 2005, it has successfully worked with area schools in setting up garden clubs, farm field trips, student-run farmers markets, and healthy snack classes. Now, with the Apple Seeds Teaching Farm, the organization will be able to expand its curriculum to include hands-on gardening demonstrations, community workshops, summer camps, farm dinners, and more.

Ozark Natural Foods (ONF), known locally as “the Co-op,” is a natural foods cooperative that has been serving the Northwest Arkansas community since 1971. On Jan. 28 of this year, ONF presented Apple Seeds with a check for $20,000 to go towards the Apple Seeds Teaching Farm.

Visions aligned

There is no question that Apple Seeds’ vision for the Teaching Farm aligns perfectly with that of Ozark Natural Foods.

“Education is one of the seven internationally recognized cooperative principles, as is concern for community,” said ONF Marketing Director Alexa McGriff. “Therefore, when we were approached about supporting this project in 2013, knowing that it is our vision and mission to educate our community and provide them with the resources to lead healthier, happier lives, and knowing that we strive to meet the seven cooperative principles on a daily basis, we knew we couldn’t pass up an opportunity like this. Apple Seeds is creating something that will be invaluable to the community of Northwest Arkansas, and with the support of ONF, and hopefully many other local supporters, they will make it the best it can be. We are happy to be a part of it.”

This is not their first time working with Ozark Natural Foods. “Alysen Land, ONF general manager, was one of the founding members of Apple Seeds and personally led incorporation of the organization in 2007,” said Apple Seeds Co-Executive Director Mary Thompson. “Having the support of ONF, such a trusted and trailblazing group, is vital to realizing our dream for this site. We share a vision for teaching the next generation of community leaders and expanding our reach into Northwest Arkansas.”

Apple Seeds was also able to raise $10,000 from the community through a Kickstarter campaign—due, in no small part, to the hard work they have shown in raising awareness around issues of healthy eating. For over 10 years, Apple Seeds has been working with local schools and communities to educate children on the importance of making healthy food choices and understanding where the food they eat comes from. Apple Seeds partners with the Fayetteville Public School on a Farm-to-Table program that, in 2013, reached over 6,000 students. In numerous schools, Apple Seeds has started garden programs where students grow, tend, and harvest their own crops. The crops are then sold through student-run school garden farmers markets. These educational endeavors are to become the basis of the teaching farm curriculum.  

Launching the farm

The Apple Seeds Teaching Farm is being constructed on a two-acre plot adjacent to Ozark Natural Foods, in a lot that had been sitting empty for years. Its location will help it serve as both a community garden and an educational teaching hub for the region. The farm will be available to area schools for field trips, gardening workshops, and trainings and will include facilities such as a barn, offices, outdoor kitchen, and tool shed. There will also be a Phase 2 that will include educational workshops, a tool-lending library, summer camps, and farm dinners.

Ground was broken in early spring of this year, and the farm has been humming with activity ever since. Local volunteer groups are playing a huge part during these early stages. Under the direction of Farm Manager Cale Nicholson and Farm Assistant Corey Womack, direct sowing of a wide variety of crops was done in June, including summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers, okra, and even heirloom cotton. By July 4, that list had grown grew to include watermelon, winter squash, beans, and a slew of flower varieties. Germination has been successful, and the irrigation system was fully functioning just in time for the sweltering Arkansas summer. At midsummer, what started as a scrubby patch of weeds and grass is already looking like an operating urban farm.

Educational programming for the teaching farm is also starting to take shape. The vision is for the farm to serve as a verdant resource for area schools, strengthening Apple Seeds’ regional reach for school garden training, promotion of healthy eating, and garden-based education. In April, Apple Seeds launched its first school-garden training workshop geared toward educators and school volunteers across the region who are ready to build and sustain their own school gardens. During the fullday event, attendees were taught everything from how to build a raised-bed garden to the importance of incorporating the garden into classroom curriculum. Ten schools attended and will already be breaking ground on their own gardens this school year. And as a result, five of those schools were also awarded minigrants for their efforts.

Broader education efforts

Ozark Natural Foods has a long history of creating educational opportunities for its owners. The co-op holds weekly classes taught by both co-op staff and community members that include everything from cooking demonstrations to rain barrel workshops. Collaborating with the Apple Seed Teaching Farm, though, will allow the co-op to broaden the scope and vision of its education efforts. Participants in gardening classes will be able to get hands-on instruction, while cooking demonstrations can include food grown right next door.

Working together in such close proximity, Apple Seeds and Ozark Natural Foods will be in a position to support each other’s missions to educate the local community around issues of healthy eating and sustainable food growing. For example, in September, Apple Seeds and the co-op will be collaborating on a day-long event called the Midtown Music Showcase. Co-op customers will be invited to spend an afternoon watching some fantastic local bands, eat delicious food, play games, and also take a tour of the farm. The event will grow awareness of the Teaching Farm, as well as help raise further funding for Apple Seeds.

As it grows, the Apple Seeds Teaching Farm will also serve as a model nationwide for cooperative grocers and nonprofits that are looking to collaborate on programs that support similar goals in their own communities. You can follow the progress of the Apple Seed Teaching Farm at www.appleseedsnwa.org. You can find out more about Ozark Natural Foods at www.onf.coop.