SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Springfield Community Gardens, or SCG, works with a network of volunteer community gardens and market farms to grow healthy food and build relationships.
“I’m just as proud of the community that we built in this garden as I am with the things that we’ve grown,” said gardens coordinator Stephanie Handy.
According to their website, there are 16 community gardens across Springfield.
“It gives the community somewhere where they can get their hands in the dirt, and they can learn how to grow their own food,” Handy said.
Every garden is led by one or two “garden leaders,” like Handy. These leaders decide how the food will be distributed.
“Some of the gardens they distribute all to their volunteers that come to work in the garden,” Handy said. “Some of them donate 100% of what they grow, and some of them do a combination of both.”
SCG also donates produce to Ozarks Food Harvest. Since the partnership program began, over 100,000 people have received more than 750,000 pounds of free food. That amounts to roughly $1.3 million worth of food that would have been sent to the landfill.
“Our food system is collapsing slowly and surely,” said garden assistant Elijah Speer. “It’s important to teach everybody how to make their own food, even if it only offsets a portion of what they need to eat.”
If you want to start gardening, you can stop by the Fairbanks.
“I know people get discouraged, but you will learn eventually how to grow a really good garden,” Handy said.
That’s also where they have a community fridge, offering free produce to anyone who wants access to fresh food.
“We don’t spray with glyphosate at all,” Speer said. “Stay away from that. That’s horrible for you. All of the things that we do add to it are all organic fertilisers. In our processes, we keep closer towards that, like the natural state of things.
You can grab anything in stock at these fridges for free between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
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