GLCF Site Visit 2021: Mill City Grows
Continuing our Greater Lowell farm tour, GLCF’s Grants Team popped by Mill City Grows (MCG)’ Big Farm on a bright August day. MCG’s Executive Director Jessica Wilson showed us around the bountiful four-acre site.
The Big Farm was launched in 2014 and is leased from the City of Lowell. This thriving space is where MCG grows their larger crops and the bulk of their products. We marveled at the new wash and pack station used for cleaning and processing harvested produce for their Mobile Market. We learned a new farm term/concept known as fertigation, a fertilizer application method in which dissolved fertilizers are delivered to the crop through the irrigation system used at the Big Farm. The farm crew and volunteers were busy harvesting watermelons, tomatoes, lettuce, and more.
At the heart of Mill City Grows is their Urban Farm Program, which produces all the seasonal fruits and vegetables available to the community. They use organic practices and work side-by-side with community volunteers to grow fresh food for their Mobile Market, education classes, and local emergency food providers. In addition, the urban farms host educational classes for youth, community groups, and volunteers throughout the growing season.
GLCF funded a grant for Mill City Grows (MCG), who partnered with Lowell Public Schools (LPS) to distribute 70 weekly farm shares of fresh, locally grown produce to low-income families with children attending LPS as part of GLCF’s COVID-19 response funding. Additionally, as part of our Discretionary Grants awards, MCG received a grant for Food Justice Squad: Youth Education and Engagement at the Urban Farm. This remoter programming included: seed starting kits for 500+ first and second-grade students in Lowell Public Schools for students to grow herbs in their homes with corresponding curriculum packets and lesson plans; one 4-week Farm to Table course with four youth who received a weekly meal kit and a live virtual cooking lesson; and remote afterschool programming for two elementary and one middle school with ten students a week.
We loved learning about our partner’s incredible work and hearing their passion for improving our community. Thank you, Mill City Grows, for your continued food justice work.
