Progress 07/15/23 to 07/14/25

Outputs
(N/A)

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The Problem our Project was Created to Address This project was createdto build a community-based network at Bellarmine University to address food insecurity and food deserts in Greater Louisville and Southern Indiana communities and on campus by reviving the dormant Bellarmine Community Farm. The ultimate expected outcome of this project is to enhance our community's health and well-being together as a robust community-based initiative. Communities across the Greater Louisville and southern Indiana area continue to face significant challenges related to food insecurity, with limited access to fresh and nutritious produce. According to a 2010 report, Louisville ranked tenth in the nation for the number of households living in a food desert. In 2015, Louisville ranked sixth in the nation for food insecurity. This issue meant many neighborhoods were and remain classified as food deserts, where affordable health food options are scarce. These conditions contribute to poor health outcomes and nutritional deficiencies. This project worked on creating a plan to revive the dormant Bellarmine Community Farm to be used as a resource with the potential to provide fresh produce and foster education and engagement around how to grow fresh and nutritious foods. Without intentional efforts to revive this space and build a robust community-based network, opportunities to address local food insecurities and strengthening connections between campus and the surrounding neighborhoods would remain unrealized. Work that was Done to Address this Problem This project has accomplished the following: Goal 1: Objective 1.1 & 1.2: Bellarmine's Center for Community Engagement and Knight's Pantry shared their survey data with the project. The survey tracks the amount and type of user that uses the pantry. The team analyzed the data to have a better understanding of how to begin planning to address food insecurity. The results revealed that there was a growing heaving reliance on the pantry to supplements pantry basics and needs. Furthermore, after discussion with the Center for Community Engagement, it was asked of the project to plan to grow produce that was more 'grab and go' or 'snack' style in nature. This meant the project could plan to grow berries (blackberry, raspberry, and blueberry) and grapes, and apples and pears in the orchard. This has already begun to yield a yearlyaverage of 10 gallons of fruit a year split betweenKnight's Pantry and Dare to Care Food Bank. Objective 1.3 & 1.4: Donations to Food Banks and Pantries include over 24 gallons of apples and pears. 10 gallons of tomatoes. 2 gallons of berries. Over 20 lbs. of vegetablesto Dare to Care Food Bank and Knight's Pantry. Over the past few years, this projects network has grown to include Catholic Charities Common Earth Gardensand Sacred Heart Academy in addition to the community partners originally listed. This allowed the farm to enhance its mission on educating our target audience on fresh and nutritious foods. Furthermore, the project was able to host numerous natural scienceclasses and labs from the university for workdays and guest lectures that focused on the value of growing your own food, knowing where your food comes from, and eating as much fresh and nutritious foods as possible. Over the past few years, the Farm has become a welcoming gathering place.Many pedestrians from around the surrounding neighborhoods and officesregularly walk by the Farm, stop and pick and eat berries, and engage in conversation. Others have used the space as a place to host outdoor events.Students extensively use the space as a place to rest, study, and eat in between classes.It truly has become a gathering place. Objective 1.5 & 1.6: This project was recognized by the Center for Community Engagement at Bellarmine University with the 'Mission Across the Curriculum Award.' It has also hosted numerous 'Farm Workdays' as events to raise awareness and to put into action best practices for growing food. These events were held once a month during the school year and all community members were encouraged to attend. Many who have used the farm have regularly requested to use it again whether for classes, events, or hosting new projects. One example is that a local nativenursery, Native Oasis, has begun using the farm as a hosting site for growing additional native plants for their business. This encourages the pollination of fruits and vegetables at the Farm, in addition to providing food for two bee hives. Goal 2: Objectives 2.1 & 2.2: The survey mentioned above revealed that the fresh produce supplied by the BCFP was indispensable. Therefore, this project has successfully enhanced connections with its listed community partners.In addition, we have worked to strengthen our sustainable networkwith our community partners. With Dare to Care and Knight's Pantry BCFP has provided fresh produce. With the Earth and Spirit Center we have continued to grow a partnership based on education and hands-on experiential learning through workshops. With St. Vincent de Paul, we have established the BCFP as a resource for them or composting to prevent food waste. Not only has this network helped provide nutritious and fresh produce, but it has also increased education on the issue, and created closed loops from education, to growing, to composting. Goal 3: Held a workshop on entrepreneurial projects on how to create and grow a farm business. Common Earth Gardens discussed the pathway to accomplish this. BCFP provided education on how to create and plan a new business and how tofinancially plan for and start a business. Student led applied research projects were completed. These include, tracking for water infiltration and runoff, better understanding of and planning for the wildlife that regularly frequented the area, established pollinator gardens to pollinate produce,establishing kitchen herb and tea gardens. Work Study student was mentored by the BCFP to expand the Farm by developing a strategy and establishing a seed to sow cycle based on the academic year. This involved months of research and planning and was implemented in late spring. Farm Workdays were held every month during the academic year to teach and put into action best practices around urban gardening. Consultations were regularly conducted with the University of KentuckyJefferson County Cooperative Extension Office. They served in an advisory capacity to better understand how to grow and manage healthy soil. Measurable Change(s) The measurable changes are in the gallons and pounds of produce that the project has grown and distributed into local food pantries detailed above. Why the Change Matters Reviving the Bellarmine Farm, planning, and creating a sustainable network have helped to transform an underutilized resource into a hub for addressing food insecurity and food deserts in the Greater Louisville and southern Indiana area and on the Bellarmine University Campus.This change matters because it increases access to fresh, nutritious produce, fosters a sustainable and community-driven network, and provides numerous and diverse opportunities for education on nutritious foods and entrepreneurial opportunities around food insecurity and food deserts. By activating the farm, we created opportunities for collaboration between our targeted audience, community partners, and additional partners while strengthening the local food system. Ultimately, this planning project laid a foundation for long-term solutions that address immediate food needs and lasting community resilience.

Publications

Progress 07/15/23 to 07/14/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The Target Audiences reached during 90-day effort: Dare to Care Food Bank: Dare to Care Food Bank is one of our committed community partners. They are a local food bank servicing the Louisville and southern Indiana region. Therefore, they are aligned with our goals to build a community-based network to address food insecurity in Louisville and southern Indiana. Furthermore, Dare to Care has been a critical partner with Bellarmine University's Knighti's Pantry. This partnership allows the university to offer supplemental fresh produce at no cost to the local community, and to Bellarmine students, faculty, and staff. The Passionist Earth and Spirit Center: The Passionist Earth and Spirit Center (ESC) has had a robust collaborative partnership with Bellarmine for many years. Located only one block away from Bellarmine, the ESC regularly hosts Bellarmine interns, retreats, and other programs. They have expressed an interest in continuing and expanding their collaboration with Bellarmine through this grant. Bellarmine University's Center for Community Engagementand Knight's Pantry: The Center for Community Engagemnt is a collaborative partner in the local, regional, and global community with the mission to enrich learning and scholarship, prepare globally fluent and engaged citizens, and address critical social issues. The Knight's Pantry is a cost-free food pantry providing supplemental food and other essential items to the Bellarmine community. St. Agnes SchoolFood Pantry and St. Vincent de Paul St Agnes is a Louisville Archdioscese school neighbors the Passionist Earth and Spirit Center and is on the same street as Bellarmine. St. Agnes hosts the St. Vincent de Paul pantry. The Pantry services 150 families located throughout Louisville and Southern Indiana and is in it's fifth year of operation. Empower Fitness (a new connection) A locally owned and operated all-womens. Their goal is to guide women along their fitness journey while promoting a healthy and holistic mindset. This year, their owner estabilshed the goal of starting a gym pantry where members can bring and exchange goods such as produce, natural soaps and laundry detergents, etc. As outlined in Goal 2, this grant seeks to develop and enhance innovative connections between our community partners to build a sustainable networkfor the supply of fresh food.The reasons why we have targeted these audiences is because they are our community partners that share a common goal in addressingfood insecurity of the greater Louisville and southern Indiana communities. For example, as of June 2024, the Bellarmine Farm Community Food Project donated over 5 lbs in asparagus and 1 gallon of blackberries (Goal 1 and 2) to the Knight's Pantry. In addition, it planted corn, tomatoes, swiss chard, cantelope, green and red peppers, and kitchen herbs (tyme, basil, parsley, cilantro, and mint) seedlings for the summer garden season. Our project matters to our community partners, and Bellarmine community, because it is providing fresh and local produce where these organizations traditonally rely upon sporatic donations. Efforts: Experiential Opportunities: Bellarmine Farm Workdays - these workdays occur once a month and are desinged to genearte more interest in ourproject while also informally teaching students skills, and concepts about urban agriculture and nutrition. Furthermore, they were attached as the community engaged requirement for Dr. Abee's spring semester Environmental Justice course. It was centerd in the regenerative agriculture unit(Goal 3; Objectives 3, 4, and 5). Two undergraduate students engaged in applied research rpojects and one undergraduate student assisted in a workshop planning project.The research projects include establishinga compost disposal network that will take compostable materialsacross Bellarmine'scampus to Bellarmine Farm, andexpanding themaster garden plan for the project. Both research projects were a success. Furthermore, the compost project has been expanded to include St. Agnes whocompost food waste at the Bellarmine Farm. One undergraduate student engaged in planning a entrenprenuial workshop on starting a urban garden (Goal 3; Objectives 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, and 3.4). Extension and Outreach: The Bellarmine Community Farm Project has continued toreach target audiences identified in the grant, and we have also extented our outreach to other partners to continue to build a community-based network and opportunities for addressing food secruity and educating on nutrition in Louisville and southern Indiana. These extensions and outreaches include: In September, we hosted the Sacred Heart Academy's Advanced Placement Environmental Studies classfor experiential learning activities. Sacred Heart Academy is an all-girls Roman Catholic high school in Louisville, Kentucky and is located approximately 10 minutes from Bellarmine's campus. The students helped weed, mulch, and seed for the upcoming spring season. We also discussed why it is important to seed many of spring's produce in the fall, and how composting, mulching, and protecting raised beds help fertilize the soil and keep seeds warm and protected throughout winter months. In May, the project hosted a 'Gardening Skills' Workshop with it's new partner Empower Fitness. These activities and opportunities have laid the foundation for the project; both expected and unexpected. Progess has been incremental, but intentional. It has allowed theproject to continue to make incremental gains while also developing and fostering higher levels of community engagemnet between Bellarmine Farm, and school systems. In addition, it is encouraging increased consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables, educating the community and students on why local and fresh is essential to their nutrition,expanding experiential/agriculture-based learning opporuntities, and strengthening existing community partnershipsin the greater Louisville and southern Indiana area. Changes/Problems:The one major change is we have added Empower Fitness as a community partner to our project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We have not fully developed opportunities for training and professional development at this time. However, the team has planned a workshop that will fulfill these goals for Fall 2024. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results of the Bellarmine Farm Community Project (BFCP) have been disseminated through the donated produce, engagement with community partners,project activities hosted at Bellarmine Farm, and the establishment of a new community partner with an emphasis on holistic health and nutrition. Farm Workdays and hosting of workdays and research projects have been a major way the project has dimmimentinated to education, hands-on learning opportunities, and conducted valuable research. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Goals not yet met: Goal 3, Objective 3.5 We have met our goals and objectives in major ways. The remaining goal is to work with parks and recreation programs to host workshops and provide services. This will be planned in Fall 2024 with the intention of execution of the workshop in Spring 2025. Finally, the BFCFP research publication will be submitted in Fall 2024.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The Bellarmine Community Farm Project (BCFP) aims to address food insecurity and food deserts in the greater Louisville and southern Indiana region. This project seeks to improve the community's health and well being by providing access to fresh and nutrious produce, by enhancing a connections between community partners, and supporting students in entretrenprenuial plans and research opportunities related to urban agriculture and nutrition. The audience we originally intend to impact is the Louisville and southern Indiana community by working alongside our community partners. This allows the project to have a direct impact on our community. We have accomplished the following goals and objectives during this 90-day period: Goal 1: Objectives 1.1 & 1.2: Bellarmine's Center for Community Engagement and Knight's Pantry shared it's raw survey data with the project. We are currently cleaning, exploring, and preparing the data for a journal publication. Objective 1.3: Summer 2023 donations: 12 gallons of fresh apples to Dare to Care Food Bank 5 gallons of tomatoes to Knight's Pantry 5 lbs. squashes to Knight's Pantry 5 lbs. zucchini to Knight's Pantry Spring 2024 donations: 5 lbs. of asparagus to Knight's Pantry 1 gallon of blackberries to Knight's Pantry Farm Workdays: BU Farm Workdays were held throughout fall and spring semesters. In Spring 2024, workdays were incorporated into the community engagment requirement for Dr. Abee's Environmental Justice course.Students from the Anthropology and Sociology, Finance, Biology, and Environmental Studies departments also attended farm workdays. October 2024: Sacred Heart Academy's AP Environmental Studies class visited the BCFP. They assisted in hands-on learning about how to seed in the ground, and weeded, mulched, composted, and covered raised beds. They also assisted in planting a pumpkin seeds for Fall 2024. Through this hands-on learning atmosphere they were able to learn the importance of growing your own food, and forethought planning when it comes to the rotation of urban agriculture crops. Objective 1.4: Students regularly use the gathering space, the picnic tables under a walnut tree, for outdoor lunches, impromptu meet ups, or a place to study outside. It is hard to quantify these visits as the space is used so frequently and is evidenced by tables being used, moved around, and the fire pit being used. Objectives 1.5 & 1.6: The BCFP was awarded a 'Mission Across the Curriculum Award' with an additional award from the Center for Community Engagement at Bellarmine University. Goal 2: Enhance connections with community partners. Objectives 2.1 & 2.2: From August to early October 2023, Knight's Pantry received 20 pounds offresh produce from the BCFP. Fresh produce donated includes raspberries, tomatoes, cucumberes, peppers,hot peppers, and herbs (mint, sage, and basil). October 2023, met with ESC for a consulation on how the BCFP can best use their greenhouses to seed and propagate spring and summer produce. In addition, we discussed best practices for nutritional and urban agricultural education workshops. May 2024, the project added Empower Fitness as a community partner and completed a 'Gardening Skills' workshop. June 2024, met with St. Agnes and St. Vincent de Paul to discuss needs of their pantry. As a result of these conversations, the tomato crop for 2024 will be redirected to their pantry. Goal 3: Objective 3.1: Started planning Fall 2024 workshop on how to create a urban garden. Undergraduate student assisted with this planning during Spring 2024. Objective 3.2: 2 undergraduate applied research projects completed during Spring 2024 under the supervision of Dr. Abee. Oneproject was on establishing a compost system for the BFCFP. One project was on expanding the garden's master plan. Objective 3.3: Farm Workdays held in tandem with the Regenerative Agriculture unit in Environmental Justice. Objective 3.4: Eagle Scout Project completed and the the scout's project was entitled, 'Compost for a Cause: Building Three Bins for Education. Consulations with University of Kentucky Extension Office. Their advise has resulted in the implementation of cover crop to restore soil health during the winter months and the pruning of the apple and pear orchard to promote tree and fruit health. In 90 days, our project has been able to accopmlish engaging the community, building up the BCFP through community partners, begin growing fruits and vegetables with unexpected community partners, and has been able to use the Bellarmine Farm space as both a place of learning and enjoyment. These accomplishments, and partnerships in the Louisville and southern Indiana community, are building knowledge about urban agriculture and nutrition, learning and applying new skills, and leading to an overall better quality of life with easier access to nutricious food.

Publications