Several years ago, we launched our Sustainable Agriculture Program with the intent of feeding our clients cleaner, healthier food and reducing some of our dependence on purchased food.
Over those several years, we tested raising broilers (meat chickens), pastured hogs, and a volunteer-managed garden all at our South Park property location. Those tests revealed some things we did right and some things which need improvement.
The biggest takeaway so far is the need for infrastructure. Raw land is not an issue for us. We have been blessed with mission land here at South Park and in other areas in the Kanawha Valley thanks to generous donors. However, although our West Virginia hills are beautiful, they can be tricky for farming. Water sources, access roads, and graze-able pasture are critical for our efforts. Infrastructure is our primary focus right now.
I am excited to say, we have had a good number of people respond positively to our efforts in creating a sustainable agriculture program so our network is building! We have had some great ideas presented to us and are eager to implement them once we can acquire the needed resources. We will be providing more specifics later this year.
If you would like to know how you can help with this program, consider the following:
1) Pray – Pray for wisdom for us to use our resources properly and for blessing upon our efforts.
2) Network – If you know someone in the sustainable agriculture world that can help provide insight for our efforts, point them our way. They can call the main office and ask to speak with me or one of my team members.
3) Give – Please consider a designated gift to our Sustainable Agriculture Program. Your contribution will help us make the necessary infrastructure investments.
