Growing is what the JK Community Farm does best. In the last year, the organization attracted more than 7,000 volunteers, doubled the land used for growing produce, and increased their donations to the area’s largest food pantries to more than 300,000 pounds of food! If that's hard to imagine, it's the equivalent of 250,000 meals, including more than 5,000 peppers.
Pepper-planting logistics are on Executive Director Samantha Kuhn’s mind this month. The effort comes down to two critical days in May. That’s when the nonprofit farm hosts its annual Plant-A-Thon. The event coordinates volunteers, working in two-hour shifts, to plant ALL of this summer season's crops. It’s a giant undertaking, but Samantha is following the family tradition of doing things big.
Charles Kuhn, Samantha’s father, is the founder of JK Moving, now the country’s largest independently-owned moving company. The Kuhn family has also been a force in preservation efforts in Loudoun, purchasing land parcels to place into conservation easements including the Westpark golf course, Stumptown Woods, and the 150-acres that are now home to the JK Community Farm.
The farm’s mission tackles a big challenge, too: food insecurity.
JK Community Farm grows produce and raises beef, pork and eggs exclusively for food pantries in Loudoun, Fairfax, Arlington, and soon D.C. The goal is to combat the socioeconomic issues that often prevent families from getting the healthy food their bodies need. Kuhn acknowledges the incredible community support that helps others fill bags with packaged staples each week, but credits the farm for its critical focus on adding fresh, locally grown food to that mix.
“Part of our work is to educate our community that growing is better than buying because it strengthens our connection to our food sources,” explains Samantha. “It’s the difference between easy and quality. Nutrients matter. Freshness is something you can taste.”
This spring, the farm will plant sweet and white potatoes, lettuce, corn, zucchini, watermelon, cucumbers, carrots, eggplant, asparagus, and more than a dozen varieties of hot peppers, a clear favorite listed in surveys of the families it feeds.
“The farm represents the essence of Loudoun. What we’ve seen is that people here really want to help each other,” said Samantha. Chuckling, Farm Manager, Mike Smith adds, “We only planted four acres our first year because we were worried that volunteers wouldn’t show up. We don’t worry anymore.”
Indeed, growing food takes many hands. The farm only employs two full-timers – Samantha and Mike – relying heavily on help from volunteers that include employees from JK Moving and numerous other businesses, families, and even schoolchildren.
“Our littlest volunteers are the best part of our program,” says Samantha. “We had a group of kindergarten and first graders scheduled to come out to plant kale, and we figured they would plant a single row and be done. But they planted the whole field, and it was one of our best-growing crops.”
The farm received a grant from 100 Women Strong last year to build bio-intensive beds. These 40’ raised beds are filled with nutrient-dense soil for year-round growing. The good stuff in the soil results in produce that grows faster and contains more nutrients. The farm also uses other sustainable and regenerative agriculture practices like rainwater harvesting, drip irrigation, and cover crops.
“Our food pantry partners see more of a need than ever before,” says Samantha, “We want to grow as much as possible to saturate our food pantries. And then encourage other communities to duplicate our model.”
You can dig it! The JK Community Farm is registering volunteers for its 2021 Plant-A-Thon, May 22 and 23, from 8 am to 6 pm. Individuals, parents and children, and groups can register at the new website https://www.jkcf-dev.com/ for a time slot and instructions for safe, socially-distant planting. The farm also needs volunteers to cultivate and harvest this summer, and accepts donations from home gardeners and hobby farmers.