Growing at The Farm
ST. MATHIAS - Arlene and Bob Jones are not only growing organic produce at The Farm on St. Mathias, they're growing community, too.
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Pole beans hang from a "bean tunnel" at The Farm on St. Mathias as Adam (left) and Donny, both enrolled in Minnesota Teen Challenge, a drug and alcohol addiction recovery program, worked in the Minnesota Teen Challenge garden, which also includes gardens for the Women's Center of Mid-Minnesota and Port Group Homes of Brainerd.
Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
The Joneses, who have owned the 80-acre farm on St. Mathias Road for the last five years, provide a portion of their fields for community gardens, which are cared for by specific organizations. For the last four years they've partnered with Port Group Homes and the Women's Center of Mid-Minnesota to grow their own food and care for their garden. For the past two years, Minnesota Teen Challenge participants, who are recovering from alcohol and drug addictions, have also worked in the fields to grow their own crops.
The program's cook uses the fruits and vegetables during program meals. This summer, Teen Challenge workers also cared for the Women's Center's garden, weeding and harvesting food for the women and children who live at the shelter.
The partnerships not only benefit the programs, but also those who volunteer to tend to the crops.
Adam, a Minnesota Teen Challenge participant, got ready to work in the Teen Challenge garden at The Farm on St. Mathias.Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
Port, which provides residential services for at-risk boys and girls ages 10-18, brings its residents out to the farm twice a week to work in the garden. Heather Kelm, services coordinator at Port, said behavioral problems decrease when the teens are at the farm working in the garden. Many of them enjoy it. The Port staff also works alongside the teens in the garden.
"They love it, it's a great learning opportunity for them," Kelm said. "Some of them had never had fresh stuff from a garden before."
Donny, a Minnesota Teen Challenge participant, paused from working in the garden to pet one of the kittens that freely roam The Farm on St. Mathias.Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
Kelm said that after the girls at Port harvested beans last week, many of them asked for seconds when they were served dinner that night.
Arlene Jones said she and her husband also teach the community gardeners how to compost and grow their own urban organic gardens, a skill they can take with them when they leave the programs.
About five to 10 Minnesota Teen Challenge participants work in the garden each week.
"Being out in nature is kind of therapeutic," said John, a Teen Challenge participant.
"This is why I come out here, for the animals," Donny, another Teen Challenge participant, said with a smile as he petted one of the kittens that call the farm home. "If I could take this one home, I would."
"A lot of the guys down from Minneapolis have never been in a garden," added Adam, also enrolled in Teen Challenge. "The only vegetables they see are in a store."
Arlene Jones (left), owner of The Farm on St. Mathias, helped Gary, a Minnesota Teen Challenge participant, pull up potatoes in the Teen Challenge community garden at her farm. Jones and her husband, Bob, have set aside a portion of their 80-acre organic farm to help three local organizations grow their own food.Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
"The educational opportunities have been great," said James Norwood, maintenance manager at Teen Challenge. "It's an opportunity for our guys to get off campus and give back to the community after many of them have taken from the community for many years."
The Farm on St. Mathias recently received a Statewide Health Improvement Program, or SHIP, grant for $3,470 to purchase gardening equipment like shovels, hoes, solar fencing, hoses, raised beds and other supplies for the groups who grow crops in the community garden. The Joneses have donated the seeds and other materials and help establish each of the gardens, which take up about a 150-foot-by-150-foot section near the entrance to their farm. They also built a large composting station out of reclaimed pallets that are used for the community garden.
Minnesota Teen Challenge participants harvested corn and potatoes Thursday at The Farm on St. Mathias that was to be served to the women and children staying at the Women's Center of Mid-Minnesota in Brainerd.Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
"For Bob and I, it's rewarding and it's a lot of fun," Arlene Jones said of the garden. "It's a way of sustaining community."
JODIE TWEED may be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.