RUTLEDGE, Tenn. — A Community Garden Project in Grainger County is helping children with autism and contributing fresh produce to local food banks all thanks to one family.
Right now, the two-year-old project is running entirely on community donations.
“Even though I sweat out here because of the humidity, I will never give up,” 14-year-old Zachary explained.
A little sweat and a whole lot of love helps the Community Garden Project grow.
“Apparently, I'm really good at carrying the mulch,” Zachary shared. “Mostly the food is my favorite part.”
He works alongside his siblings Kylie and Isaac to grow fresh produce. All three kids have autism.
“Grounding yourself every day is good,” their father Thomas Hart detailed. “And for special needs kids, it's even better.”
Hart is also on the spectrum. Along with Ryah Giles, they've noticed their children growing along with the garden.
“This vitamin D from the sun is a huge, huge mood impact on the kids,” Giles remarked. “Everything has energy. I do believe that, and being outside kind of levels out your energy and makes you understand that the world's a much bigger place than just what you see on TV, or in your room. And so that's what I always want to put into the kids is the world is bigger than the electronics. Get outside. Go. Do.”
The impact stretches out into the community. The family harvests the organically grown produce and gives it away to local food pantries, growing a spirit of giving.
“Because if we don't, you know, we'll be, like, selfish and everything like that,” 15-year-old Kylie shrugged. “We don't want to be selfish, right, people?”
“Going to food banks, you see mostly starches and sugars,” Giles added. “Everyone should be able to eat good food without it costing half their budget.”
Michelle Wolfenbarger is the secretary at Grainger Baptist Association, which serves more than 300 people a month through its food pantry.
“It's a really big help for the community and people that are in need here,” Wolfenbarger said about fresh produce donations. “We have to cap off sometimes depending on how our food donations come in if we can take more clients or not. It’s kind of sad but if we don’t have the food to give out, then we can’t really take in new ones.”
The family is hoping to grow the impact and plant seeds in the minds of others.
“[The garden] just gets bigger and bigger every year. And I have a feeling that next year not only will we be doing it, but I'm challenging people,” Hart said. “Whether it's on a patio or a raised bed. It could be two tomato plants outside. It's all about paying forward.”
The garden has been built using donations from community members, Giles said.
“Last year, it was really difficult to get donations because it was unknown,” Giles elaborated. “You know, it was the first time we were going out and pounding the pavement and telling people our dreams. And now it was a lot easier this year to get donations for it.”
Some of the donors include: Pop’s Garden Center, Jefferson Farmers Cooperative, Knoxville Seed & Greenhouse Supply, Red Barn Produce, Leeper Hardware, Southeast Landscape Supply, Hamblen Farmers Co-Op, Jefferson City Tractor Supply, Xylem Tree Service and Jordan Cooper Tree Service.
“Our whole purpose is just to help people,” Giles shared. “We're helpers and, you know, we don't want to be the ones walking around saying ‘You need to do this, you need to do this’ without doing it ourselves.”
In the future, Giles and Hart hope to expand the project to include a greenhouse and a tiller to continue growing the garden.