Jack Wood - Community Spotlight

If I've said it once, I'll say it a thousand times - food is the experience that binds us as a family, as a community, as a society. There is nothing that feels more genuine in care than feeding the people around you or helping them feed themselves. For Jack Wood and his team of over 350 volunteers, including their very own "Bob-the-Builder" that can build just about anything, this is a guiding principle for their efforts.

Their story starts in 2005 with one Nola Storm. Nola was the English Language Learner (ELL) social worker for Fargo Public Schools and Adult Learning Center, which exposed her to the stories of many New American families - all of which centered around the hardship of moving from their homes and finding community. Wanting to find a way to help them, she approached her church ministry at Olivet Lutheran Church (boy, they sure are popular around these parts) to ask about starting a community garden. They found this to be a great idea. . . except, who had the prowess to build and sustain a gardening project of that magnitude? Cue Jack!

It was 10:30 pm when he received an excited phone call from Nola to rally his support for this new idea. Jack wasn't just on board, he was excited, so, together, he and Nola approached the New American families to gauge their interest in working together on a Community Garden, which was met with equal excitement!

In Spring of 2006, armed with Jack's prowess and their endless enthusiasm, he, Nora, a handful of their congregation, and eight New American families started their first garden. The plot was 100 ft x 100 ft, located on the corner of 17th Ave. S. and 25th St. S. in Fargo. They divided it into twenty-five 20 ft x 20 ft plots. The interior eight plots were reserved for their New American friends and the rest were communal.

Despite the common gardening challenges, like heavy winds, May rains and endless weeding, they have managed to streamline their process and maximize their yield using techniques like dedicated work groups, succession planting, companion planting, wide-row planting, and many others. This has made it possible for them to expand to include 9 additional locations and a greenhouse where they start their plants for the coming season. Their most recent location opened this year at Concordia College.

Each garden has an assigned group of volunteers with a set schedule for garden maintenance. These groups become like a family and often extend past the gardens into real life application, like learning to prep and preserve foods. They also dedicate their time to additional initiatives, such as prepping meals at New Life Center, serving meals at the Salvation Army and assisting with organization at the Emergency Food Pantry.

Jack Wood (Center) with group of volunteers and staff at New Life Center.

Their programming has expanded to include The Tomato Seed Saver's Club, which has saved 350 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, The Flower & Herb Collective, the Peppers for Pantry, which includes 9 varieties of peppers, two annual Cultural Potlucks that showcase two different cultures at each event, and their Growing Together's Farmers Market hosted in the parking lot of Gethsemane Episcopal Cathedral, which is open in August to October on Tuesdays from 1 pm - 5pm.

Today, New American families make up approximately 25% of their gardener volunteers. Across their 10 locations they produce upwards of 65,000 lbs. of produce. Last year, 9,000 lbs. was donated to local food pantries and programs, while the rest was divided between full-time members. Their pantry partners include but are not limited to, FM Emergency Food Pantry, Dorothy Day, Fargo / Cass Public Health, Jasmine Day Care, Valley Senior Services, The Arbors at McCormick, Micah's Mission, Heart-N-Soul Cafe, and Concordia Food Pantry.

If you're interested in volunteering, you can find out more Here. For questions or more information you can visit their website https://www.growingtogetherfm.org/ or email Jack atjackstomatoes@gmail.com.