Crabtree Farms
is a 22-acre community urban farm located in Chattanooga, Tennessee that is committed to food access, education, and sustainable agriculture. The farm connects farmers with tools, resources, and people to build successful farm businesses. They received a $4,521 grant to expand no-till growing areas for both perennial and annual plants that will maximize the amount of food grown and available to community members and create new habitat for pollinators. Working together with students from the University of Tennessee Chattanooga students from the Regenerative Agriculture Design Class, Crabtree Farms successfully designed, planned and implemented an expanded community garden that will benefit the whole neighborhood for years to come. They were able to mitigate drainage issues in a low-lying area of the farm through contour design and creation of new berm and swales.
The goal of this project was to increase the amount of shared food sources and growing spaces available to Crabtree Community Gardeners with an installation featuring sustainable growing systems and collaborative design,” said Lena Banks, Director of Development & Communications. “At the completion of the installation, over 29 new varieties of plants were added to the community gardening space. These predominantly native plants have either human food/medicinal use or a feature that supports the overall polyculture system.”
