LAURINBURG — The Community Garden behind First Presbyterian Church is one step closer to having a fully operational greenhouse thanks to a local non-profit organization.
GrowingChange along with officials from North Carolina A&T, worked this week planter beds that will allow the hydroponic greens to be grown.
The project is funded by a grant by North Carolina A&T and assistance from USDA Strike Force. The Conservation Fund has a program called Resourceful Communities that invests in rural innovations and supports providing jobs for formally incarcerated youth.
The nine formerly incarcerated youth that make up GrowingChange helped put together the planter beds in the high tunnel with the help of Dr. Igrahim and Dr. Adosee from North Carolina A&T.
Keeping youth out of the adult correctional system has been a goal of GrowingChange founder Noran Sanford since he returned to Laurinburg in 2000 to work as a mental health therapist.
He said GrowingChange has had a 92 percent successful over a four-year period preventing entry into the adult prison system.”
“I quickly realized we were losing way too many people to the adult correctional system. North Carolina is the last state in the Union where the age of jurisdiction is 15, that means that you are hit with adult charges for every charge at age 16,” he said. “With just a little bit of extra support, these kids would not only be getting out of the juvenile system but would not be going into the adult correctional system. “
The Laurinburg greenhouse will also serve as an educational site for GrowingChange, according to Sanford.
“This will be used as an example so I can walk people through and explain to them what we’re trying to accomplish which is opening up local niche production for restaurateurs and St. Andrews food service,” Sanford said. “We will mostly be growing young greens because they come up fastest and they are fairly hearty. During times where it’s less about heat and more about light, we can do more flowering plants like tomatoes. A lot of that will be dependent on what our restaurants and food service want.”
The greenhouse, also called a high tunnel, will use a hydroponic system that allows crops to be grown without being planted in the ground, a technique that is said to limit the chance for contamination. High tunnels aid fruit and vegetable crop production by extending the cropping season and providing protection from the elements.
“This table we’re working on can produce 540 plants, then we’re able to scale it up,” Sanford said. “So we learn how to do it on a small scale, then ramp it out for the Wagram. This is an example of how we support our value organization is to work the triple bottom line — take care of your earning profit while taking care of people and plants. We are able to look at creating stipends for these guys while growing crops in an environmentally sensitive way. Taking care of the planet and able to produce some income to support the program’s expansion.”
Amber Hatten can be reached at 910-506-3170.
