Thanks to new collaboration between two JFS programs, JFS Altius Farms and Arts and Community Exploration (ACE), ACE participants can now grow, harvest and taste fresh leafy greens all year long.
Altius Farms is our nonprofit farm operation and recently became a JFS program. The farm sells leafy greens to restaurants while donating 50 percent of its produce to our Weinberg Food Pantry, increasing access to fresh, nutritious food for our clients and community. ACE is a person-centered program for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, offering experiential and immersive experiences focused on building healthy habits and life skills that support our participants in our program, community, and in their homes.
ACE currently runs a thriving seasonal outdoor garden April through October. When JFS’s Chief Operating Officer, Sally Herbert, offered a Tower Garden to ACE, cultivating curiosity all year became possible. The Tower Garden was installed last month.
The Tower Garden is a hydroponic growing system that grows plants in nutrient-rich water instead of soil. It will start with a variety of lettuces and kale. ACE participants will observe maintenance and help check the water reserve, pH balance, and nutrient levels, and take the lead on keeping plants healthy and harvesting the garden every 30-45 days.
“ACE participants enjoy engaging with our garden--learning about the growing and harvesting processes is integrated into our regular programming, shared Dylan Frierberg, ACE Program Manager. “We have monthly cooking classes and always make an effort to source ingredients from our garden. We're looking forward to using our greens in cooking classes and sending harvests home with participants so they can share with their families and host homes.”
For Morgan Keith, Altius Farms Sales and Operations Manager, the partnership is a meaningful chance to work with another JFS Program. “We think the presence of a sustainable growing system that feeds ACE participants is such a wonderful opportunity to work as a team and be able to reap the rewards of the time and effort put in with all five senses,” said Keith—and we couldn’t agree more!
We're excited for our ACE participants to have a year-round gar