TALCOTT, WV (WOAY) – A Summers County farm is planting the seeds for a healthier future that the whole community can prosper from, and this week’s One Tank Trip is taking us there.
Sprouting Farms in Talcott, West Virginia is a sustainable, organic, and community-wide farming initiative whose contributors include not only farmers, but a team of educators, advocates, and entrepreneurs.
Their aim is to provide the means to sustain and nourish everyone with food grown straight from the land. The farm also feels that after two years of being stuck indoors from COVID that it offers what most of everyone is looking for– a place people can go to thrive outdoors.
“Seeing as how we are a farm people found us a little easier during COVID, they stopped by, they wanted fresh food, they wanted to know where their food was coming from,” says Farm Manager and Education Coordinator Lucas Sharpe.
The farm also offers a little bit of everything people can do to prosper from planting, both agriculturally and economically.
People can come get a chance to spend the day volunteering while learning gardening skills, others have come to rent plots of land that have turned into small agricultural businesses. The team of staff at the farm, with the help of AmeriCorps volunteers, holds educational programs about growing and producing, and even operates a food service that provides fresh produce to local residents.
By exploring the many agricultural opportunities offered right in the community’s backyard, the farm aims to grow regional and eventually statewide sustainable resources and prosperity.
“Here in West Virginia, there are food deserts all over the place. Everybody has a right to good food no matter their income level or situation, and knowing where it comes from and creating and helping farmers get started is very important,” says Sharpe.
The farm is host to community days on the last Saturday of every month until October. The farm stand is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.
You can visit Sprouting Farms on their website or email them at contact@sproutingfarms.org for more information.
