KC F.A.R.M.E.R.S. Coalition Farm Raising Volunteer Event: Righteous Roots Community Garden

KANSAS CITY, KANSAS, June 20, 2024 – Agriculturists from around the Kansas City area came together on June 20, 2024, for the Kansas City Farmers and Ranchers for Mentoring, Education, and Resource Sharing (KC F.A.R.M.E.R.S.) Coalition Farm Raising Volunteer Event Part 2. Program coordinator Ashley Bath said the coalition is a project developed with seasoned growers and ranchers to provide support, community and hands-on education for aspiring growers and ranchers across the Kansas City region and to preserve farmland for future generations.

KC F.A.R.M.E.R.S. is led by the KC Farm School at Gibbs Road and Kansas City Black Urban Growers Inc. (KC BUGs). The coalition has partnered with several other organizations including Moose Paw Farm, Grasshopper Urban Farm, The Garden at Dogwood Forest, Pearl Family Farm, Sankara Farm and The Toolbox KC: Small Business Resource Center. Following an initial farm raising day on May 30, 2024, the June volunteering event took place at Righteous Roots Community Garden, 1732 Quindaro Blvd, Kansas City: A community garden space founded by coalition members Reggie and Theresa Moten.

“Reggie and Theresa Moten are coalition members, and they requested additional support at their community garden because it is a large project that needs a lot of hands,” Bath said. “This is considered a work-and-learn event, but it is also part of our community support.”

Reggie Moten said he and Theresa determined they needed additional help at Righteous Roots, so they started participating in the coalition and learning about the groups therein. He said the group ultimately hopes the 30 foot by 48 foot space can be finished by the fall of 2024 and utilized by the local community as a source of fresh produce.

“Each member of the group has a garden or a farm and we just go from one to the other, to the other, and help each other build up our farms and gardens to make them prosperous.”

The event saw established farmers and partner organizations working together on a high tunnel framing project. Attending volunteers braved the summer heat to rebuild old trusses, install new trusses and purlins, cement in-ground posts and sort wood for side and end-wall framing. Moten said he hopes the improvements to the community garden will help accomplish its goal of sustainable organic agriculture in an urban environment.

“We get our water from the roof next door; it’s all rainwater.” Moten said. “We don't use chemicals, we only use natural, organic fertilizers and Neem oil as our pesticide.”

Susan Welsh, owner of Grasshopper Farm, was one of the volunteers who participated in the event. Welsh is a former pastry chef who started her farm as a second career after her son left for college. She took part in “Growing Growers,” an apprenticeship program through Kansas State University that educates local farmers and has been involved in agriculture ever since.

“What brought me into the restaurant business was feeding people,” Welsh said. “I always had a garden that I fed my family from and I just kept expanding my knowledge. I found that I didn’t want to go back into the restaurant business, but I still wanted to feed people.”

Bath said many of the individuals within the coalition came from a variety of different backgrounds and skill sets, with her own career being primarily spent in government marketing and communications as well as the corporate world.

“People find farming and agriculture through a lot of different ways, but everyone has to learn about food, and that is a common denominator among all of us,” Bath said. “When people sign up, they say the things they need and want to learn about but also what they can provide. That is really what the coalition is about.”

For more information about the KC F.A.R.M.E.R.S. Coalition and the Righteous Roots Garden, visit  . https://www.kcfarmschool.org/kc-farmers-coalition

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