Franklin offering community garden plots to benefit food pantry

Each spring and summer, aspiring gardeners come to an ordinary-looking corner south of downtown Franklin to raise tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and other fresh produce.

Franklin’s community garden has offered an option for people without large yards to plant, tend and harvest a garden each year.

But through a unique partnership, their green thumbs can help feed the less fortunate throughout Johnson County.

Franklin Parks and Recreation, which operates the community garden on the corner of South and Main streets, has teamed up with the Interchurch Food Pantry to increase the supply of fresh food the pantry distributes. The city has revamped the garden area, installing raised beds, enhancing the soil, and adding mulch and limestone pathways.

Local residents can reserve a garden bed to plant produce, which will be harvested throughout the year for the Interchurch Food Pantry to give out.

“This not only fights food insecurity, it promotes a healthy lifestyle. It gets like-minded individuals together on a project to make a positive impact,” said Carol Phipps, executive director of the Interchurch Food Pantry.

Franklin has offered a community garden program for the past 14 years. Originally, the parks department used an empty plot in Temple Park, and thought it would offer an option for homeowners who didn’t have the space for a garden, or those who lived in apartments or other limited housing.

As homes were cleared out of the floodplain along South Street, leaving open and available space, the garden was moved to its current location at the corner of South and Main streets.

Twenty plots were set aside. The garden had access to water, and participants were free to come and go to tend their plots as they pleased.

The program was used sparingly, though. Franklin Mayor Steve Barnett saw potential that was going untapped.

“It’s a small part of trying to address food insecurity. That was a wasted space that was there, just being mowed. It’s a great space to help with this, if at all possible,” he said. “It won’t take care of all of their needs, but it’ll be a little piece, and we feel good about that.”

In the past, local gardeners and farmers have been generous in donating extra produce to the Interchurch Food Pantry to give out to clients, Phipps said. Local residents Rafael Sánchez and Travis Fuller created their own community garden on Fuller’s farm in 2023, which provided more than 3,100 pounds of food to the pantry last year.

Barnett learned about that effort, and suggested a similar project at the city community garden.

“We have a community garden, but it was being under-utilized. It would be awesome if we could get with the food pantry and help us recruit people who would want to utilize the space, and donate some or all of the food for the food pantry,” he said.

In December, Barnett approached Phipps about using the city’s community garden for a similar effort.

“He wanted to set aside plots in our Franklin community garden that individuals can adopt, grow produce and donate it to the food pantry to fight hunger in Johnson County,” Phipps said. “He asked if I’d be interested; my eyes lit up.”

Barnett worked with parks officials to make improvements to the community garden. The parks department enlisted Nathan Brown and Nutrien Ag Solutions to ensure the soil was ready for gardening season. Mike Dukate of Dukate Fine Remodeling built raised beds, which parks staff installed to go along with the traditional plots in the community garden. Mulch and limestone pathways are also being created for gardeners to freely move between the plots.

One side of the garden is divided into 4-feet-by-40-feet beds, while the other side has the same size beds divided into 4-feet-by-12-feet sections, for those looking for a smaller garden. Some of the plots will be allotted to the food pantry, while the others are available for residents who what to grow gardens on their own.

“We just want to utilize the space, and think it’s a good quality-of-life thing for people to enjoy living here in Franklin,” Barnett said.

Since the partnership unfolded, organizers from the Interchurch Food Pantry have been reaching out to all corners of the community to spread the word about the community garden. They’ve worked with groups such as the Johnson County Garden Club, Scouts and other organizations, businesses and churches.

They posted information on their social media about the garden plots, and tried to reach everyone they could.

“And families, parents who want to teach their kids about the value of giving back. It’s a great family project,” Phipps said.

As of April 12, about a dozen people had signed up for the food pantry plots.

“I’m excited about how it teaches youth the value of giving back. Parents, families, Scout groups can model how you can volunteer and help other people,” Phipps said. “We get families who want to volunteer, but the parents work or the kids are in school, and they want weekend opportunities. This is a perfect opportunity; it’s so flexible.”

AT A GLANCE

Franklin community garden

What: Through an Interchurch Food Pantry partnership with Franklin Parks and Recreation, local residents can reserve a garden plot in the city’s community garden to grow produce for the food pantry.

Where: The garden is located at the corner of South Street and Main Street.

How to get involved: For more information on the plots benefiting the Interchurch Food Pantry, contact the Interchurch Food Pantry at [email protected]. Other plots can be reserved through Franklin Parks and Recreation by picking up an application at the Franklin Cultural Arts & Recreation Center, 396 Branigin Blvd., Franklin.