Grow your own food

Appalachian Sustainable Development has received funding from the Thompson Charitable Foundation to serve families in Tazewell and Buchanan counties, Virginia, through the Grow Your Own food access program.

ASD’s Grow Your Own program empowers families to grow their own food in home, in a community gardens, and earn income from produce sales. Since 2012, program participants have grown over 160,500 pounds of produce. Following strict CDC guidelines, ASD will provide seasonally appropriate training, technical support, seeds, plants, tools and tilling services to program participants. Virtual workshops will teach families how to plan, plant, grow, cook and preserve home-grown produce for their households. Participants are encouraged to supplement their income through sales of their harvests or share their bounty with neighbors and local food banks.

 “Because of the generosity of the Thompson Charitable Foundation, we are able to expand the Grow Your Own program further into Tazewell and Buchanan counties,” said Chelsea Goulding, ASD’s agriculture education program manager. “Families in the program will be able to take control over their food sovereignty at a time when many are stretched too thin and local pantries are seeing drastically increased need. New families will see how they can fit into the local food system and take an active role in the fight to end food insecurity. Moving forward, our food access programs will focus on ‘a lifetime of healthy eating’. We meet folks where they are and provide them with effective tools for health, wellness and financial success.”

 Grow Your Own participants often struggle with finding, consuming, and being able to afford fresh, nutritious produce.

In its eighth year, the Grow Your Own program offers foundational agriculture education designed to provide participants increased food security, access to entrepreneurial opportunities, increased networking opportunities and bridges to employment in the agriculture field.

Experience is not necessary. Interested residents of these counties should apply by 5 p.m., February 1, 2021 at: https://asdevelop.org/growyourown or contact Lindsey Felty: lfelty@asdevelop.org.