Growing Food
We grew 4,200 pounds of beautiful fruits and vegetables and nourished the soil through cover cropping, bed building and compost. We installed a new composter in our greenhouse which converts vegetable scraps to wonderful compost in as little as three weeks!
We continued to develop our Walnut Street Farm including building new beds, planting more raspberries, blueberries and apple trees, expanding the cold storage unit, and installing a new pollinator garden.
We were able to grow our own starts in the greenhouse and planted a fall crop of kale and collards which successfully wintered over–a first!
Food Access
Our beautiful new Farm Store opened in June, serving the community three days/week through November, a 64% increase in market hours over last year!
$39,432 in healthy food sales—that’s 78,864 servings!
45% increase in SNAP sales over 2017; 187 families using SNAP shopped with us.
Our GTC EATS! Farm Share program operated for 22 weeks, serving 60 families.
- 25 elders received six weeks of vegetables for just $20 thanks to a partnership with CISA
- 20,465 pounds of organic fruits and vegetables distributed
- Youth biked produce to the homes of eight members, biking 136 miles!
“When I was in my 50s, I was suffering from high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and crippling osteoarthritis. I had been diabetic for 10 years. I was taking eight different kinds of medication; I could only walk with a cane. My doctor kept giving me more medicine, but I still wasn’t getting better. I came across articles that told me that healthy eating could reverse many medical conditions. I told my doctor that I was going to get better with food and lifestyle changes. It was hard because around me is a food desert—this means we don’t have a full line grocery store nearby and very little access to healthy food. I found out about GTC and their farm share program where they deliver food to the house. Every Wednesday those marvelous kids would bring that wonderful food to my house on their bikes. The fact that GTC delivered made it possible for me to change. Those kids saved my life! In a few months I started feeling better—I had less pain and I dropped my cane after six months. When I went back to my doctor, I had reduced my high blood pressure and my cholesterol, my diabetes A1C level was much better, and I had lost 30 pounds! It’s been three years now, and no diabetes. I attribute my healing to eating plant-based foods, and to GTC.”
—Awilda Sanchez
Youth Development
Thirty-five youth total strengthened their leadership with us during 2018. Collectively GTC youth put in over 6,500 hours, growing their own skills along with healthy food for their community, earning $19,500 in stipends.
Sustainability
Farming methods
We grow sustainably! GTC’s farming methods (by hand, no till, with no pesticides and only natural fertilizers) result in no fossil energy emissions, promote soil carbon accumulation and sequestration, and require 30–50% less energy during production than industrial farms.
The Power of Compost
GTC’s composting system turns all vegetable scraps and weeds into beautiful compost which we then use to grow more food, creating a sustainable system of use and re-use. Every 100 pounds of scraps that go to a landfill creates 16 pounds of carbon emissions, while every 100 pounds of scraps that go to compost saves two pounds of carbon emissions.
Food Miles
In 2018, 36% of the food at the farm store was grown by GTC; the rest was purchased and delivered from local farms. Large grocery store chains get much of their produce from far away places like California, Washington, Texas, and Mexico. Looking at total food miles for GTC Farm Store sales of apples, kale, lettuce and peppers in 2018, produce sold by GTC traveled 2,246 food miles total. The same produce from a large grocery store chain would have traveled 57,800 miles! GTC Farm Store sales of apples, kale, lettuce and peppers saved 55,554 food miles, or a total of 5,216 pounds in carbon emissions.
|
GTC farm store |
Large grocery store chain |
food miles |
2246 |
57800 |
Rollover or tap bars in the chart for more information.
Rain Water Harvesting
We use 3,000 gallon rain barrels in our greenhouse to capture water off the roof which we use for watering the starts and food grown there. Our entire Hancock Street Farm is rain water fed except in times of extreme drought.
Solar
Thanks to a generous donation from the wonderful people at PhippenAdams Solar LLC working with Northeast Solar, the GTC Farm Store includes 15 solar panels, each with a 30 year lifespan. The panels provided 3.3 megawatt hours or 1/3 of our energy in 2018, which saved enough greenhouse gas emissions to power a light bulb for 29 years! We would need to plant 59 trees to save this much carbon.
“GTC has strengthened my commitment to sustainability. In a busy city like Springfield, I believe that finding a farm is like finding a hidden treasure. That is why it is so important to practice farming in a sustainable way, so that this treasure can be passed down to future generations. In a time of climate change denial, GTC has created an environment where young people are able to learn about sustainability and their connection to the earth. Through the youth leadership program, GTC makes sure that each of our youth learns sustainable agriculture skills such as rainwater collection, no-till growing and crop rotation to prevent exhausting all the nutrients from our land. We also teach youth to use less fossil fuel by biking our food to markets. GTC’s legacy of sustainable practice has allowed for many youth and adults to change their views about our land, and about our planet—to learn that taking care of the environment is our job.”
—Mabeline Velez, GTC program graduate
Racial Justice
GTC weaves a commitment to racial justice through all our work.
We demonstrate this through:
- Requiring all Board members, staff and youth leaders to attend a 2 1/2 day Undoing Racism Workshop through the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond.
- Bringing a racial justice lens to all our work.
- Integrating racial justice issues into our winter curriculum with youth.
- Growing and selling crops that reflect the diverse cultures of our community.
- Prioritizing the leadership development of people of color at all levels of the organization.
- Building accountability to our community into our organizational decision making, priorities and programming.
In 2018 nine GTC youth, staff and Board members attended an Undoing Racism Workshop.