FFA plants garden at Harvest Ministries

WADESBORO — The Anson County chapter of the Future Farmers of America, a youth organization that works to promote agricultural education, has worked with Harvest Ministries, a multi-cultural church and outreach organization, to create a sustainable community garden.

Efforts to develop the garden began over a year ago when Harvest Ministries approached the FFA about the possibility of working together. Members from the FFA went over to Harvest Ministries to inspect the land they wanted to use for the garden.

“That area was too full of clay and too wet to be practical for a garden,” explained FFA Adviser Dana Wood, “so we had to go back and rethink the project.”

That process took about a year. The FFA decided the best approach would be to create an alternative style garden. On the last Friday in February, members of the FFA began working on the project. They went to Harvest Ministries and filled re-purposed used tires with soil so potatoes and tires could grow inside them.

This project was paid for by a $400 Day of Service Grant from the National FFA Foundation that was applied for by Anson County FFA President Akela Martin. The money from the grant was used to purchase the soil, seeds, and cages for the garden.

“A lot of time went in the thought process behind planting this garden,” said Wood. “It can grow in stages. We can go back after another day of service grant and use the funding to purchase concrete blocks to set up a raised garden which they can use to start growing some collards in there to be harvested this fall.”

This is not the first time the Anson County FFA has worked with the larger Anson County community. The FFA has been supplying local restaurants Allens, in Peachland, and Olivers, in Wadesboro, with fresh greens for months.

“That’s a testament to the quality of lettuce they’re producing when you have two local restaurants that are increasing their orders to the school system each cycle,” said Wood. These greens are produced hydroponically by the Agriscience department at Anson County Schools.

Anson FFA was also recognized as a National FFA Chapter Award Winner during a virtual celebration held from June 15 until June 19, 2020. The award is for FFA chapters that have excelled in their communities. An extensive application process is required to become eligible for the award.

“I’m just the Advisor,” said Wood, “It’s up to the students to run the organization. The award application is a lengthy application and I don’t do that for them. They have to do the work. The credit goes to Akela Martin for following up on the application process.”

Martin has been in FFA since ninth grade and has been president of the organization for the past year. “My dad was in the FFA,” said Martin. “And he talked about how it was such a great experience for him. Whenever the time came for high school, I knew I wanted to be involved with the FFA. I’m really glad I did, it has opened up my eyes to what all is out there in the world.”

As Anson FFA Chapter President, Martin’s duties include leading the meetings with the other officers, encouraging enrollment, and speaking at the awards banquet. Martin is also the greenhouse manager and, as part of that role, she teaches people about its operation.

Martin said working with Harvest Ministries “was a good experience for our entire FFA chapter. Not only were we able to show and prove to ourselves what we can do, but we were able to combine our talents and knowledge to make something that benefits the entire community.”

“The idea is not only to provide a crop that Harvest Ministries can supply to those in need,” said Wood, “but to also be a demonstration garden to folks to show them how they can grow to produce in their back yard without spending a large amount of money.”