Harvest Time at Redbird Mission 2011

As the field worker here at the Redbird Mission site, these last few weeks have truley been the highlight of my experience with Grow Appalachia.Seeing the rewards from all the hard work we as a group have put into the gardens this year has really been fullfilling.

The harvest of self grown fresh produce and the security provided in knowing there is food preserved whether it be canned,frozen,ordehydrated for these upcoming winter months which can be a struggle for some families,is an experience seldom matched. It instills a sense of self pride in families to set thier own food they have grown on thier table and the table of family and friends with whom they have shared, as Appalachian people so often do.These things are definitely what makes makes Grow Appalachia such a wonderful program and a life changing opportunity here in our area.

Last week I was giving the opportunityto attend the Brushy Fork Annual Institute. It gave me the chance to learn skills to enhance my ability to utilize all the recourses that have been provided to me through Grow Appalachia and Redbird Mission.

left to right:Tonya Asher, Johauna Gosney, Chad Brock, Tim Crawford

We have our greenhouse almost completely functional and are anticipating it will have a huge impact on what we will be able to accomplish with Grow Appalachia next year.

Greenhouse at Redbird Mission site

We will now be focusing most of our attention on, fall crops, cover crops and gathering all of our harevest

information together so we can view the impact Grow Appalachia has had on our community and our participants

 Field worker,

Chad Brock