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Farm Family Raises Vegetables For Local Food Banks
When Jonathan Lawler learned from his son that children at his rural Indiana school relied on food from the local food pantry, he decided he needed to do something. He switched his 36-acre farm from raising vegetables for the wholesale market to raising food for Central Indiana food banks.
  Brandywine Creek Farms is a nonprofit organization created under the umbrella of Project 23:22, which refers to a Book of Leviticus verse about leaving food for the poor when harvesting. Thanks to local publicity, Lawler and his family have received financial help and sponsorships from supporters, such as Park Chapel Church and Hancock Regional Hospital, to help cover expenses. NASCAR racer Richard Petty has come on board with a fundraiser, and there will be a Farm to Table benefit dinner in September.
  Lawler grows 6,000 tomato and 6,000 cucumber plants, eight acres of beans, plus peppers, onions, zucchini, sweet corn and watermelons. Tractors pull 7-ft. tillers and implements that lay mulch and drip irrigation systems.
  “It’s a small footprint, but our goal is to grow 20,000 lbs. of food off every acre,” Lawler says.
  Volunteers who help with the labor-intensive operation – planting, weeding, harvesting – come from a variety of sources. Lawler appreciates retired farmers who know how to fix tractors and equipment as well as individuals who just want to help. Able-bodied residents who use the county’s food shelves are required to put in so many hours. Agencies send at-risk youth to help out, and Lawler is working with a military advisor to set up a Veterans farm project. Eventually he hopes to help them start their own operations.
  Food shelves and organizations such as the Midwest Food Bank place orders for the amount of food they need and bring trucks to the Greenfield, Ind., farm. Because it is fresh, the food has a longer shelf life than the expired produce typically donated from stores.
  The Lawlers grow vegetables that are most popular with food shelf clients. But they realize that education is also important to teach people how to prepare and preserve produce. Lawler says his wife, Amanda, and members of their church plan to go to areas where the vegetables are distributed to offer classes.
  It’s also been a step in faith.
  “We have big plans to change the food landscape in Indiana,” Lawler says. “We want to make food very affordable or free to people who need it. We are trying to get other farmers on board – you can never sell everything at farmers markets.”
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Brandywine Creek Farms, 5332 North 400, East Greenfield, Ind. 46140 (ph 317 246-8640; www.brandywinecreekfarms.org; jlawler@brandywinecreekfarms.org).



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2016 - Volume #40, Issue #4