KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Beardsley Community Farm is a part of the Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee.
Lia Bevins, the farm manager, said up to around 12,000 pounds of produce is grown at the farm and is donated to local food pantries and kitchens.
"We farm on about four-and-a-half acres throughout Malcolm Martin Park," said Bevins.
She also said community members are also able to grow their own food at Beardsley Community Farm. She said there are around ten community garden beds that people can reserve and grow their own fresh produce. She also said the organization has up to 30 additional community gardens across Knoxville.
"Most of those are located in and around KCDC housing, senior living spaces. And we'll till the beds for them, we try to acquire funding to build them beds, depending on the different abilities that they have. So if they need a raised bed, a tall bed, and then we try to help maintain those throughout the summer. So we'll mow around them and weed them and try to provide seeds and seedlings so they can grow their own fresh produce also," she said.
The farm also has space for migrants. She said this year, the farm has around 65 new ground gardeners and around 90% are from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi.
"We will fill the spaces for them throughout the park, and try to get them access to water. And from there, they just grow their own produce," said Bevins. "We also tried to grow culturally appropriate food for them, we grow something called 'intore,' which is an African eggplant and a large staple of their diet."
Bevins said that by providing fresh produce, people have access to fresh and nutritious foods. Beardsley Community Farms also gives people a chance to spend time outside in the sun.
"It's really healing to be out in the sun to get your hands in the dirt. And, you get to work alongside other people. You're building that actual people-to-people community that really just makes for a long, healthy life," she said.
Bevins said the farm also hosts school-aged children for field trips, including students who are home-schooled. In the spring and fall, she said the farms hosts around two field trips a week. They include educational materials relevant to the farm.
"That can range from compost. So they'll dig around in the compost and look for worms or food scraps, that can be different parts of the plant. Also, we will host classes where the kids can kind of go to a cooking class and learn how to use the fresh produce from their gardens and create really healthy meals. So, we just try to tailor it to whatever they're learning within the classrooms," she said.
The community farm accepts volunteers four days a week during the spring.