Lehigh Valley senior homes, Rodale Institute team up to provide fresh produce to seniors
A tractor tilled up fresh dirt from fields of the long-dormant Rodale Institute's Founders Farm in Lower Macungie Township Wednesday afternoon
In several months, crops will be sprouting from that land, picked and taken to the tables of residents of Phoebe Ministries' housing and health care facilities.
Rodale Institute and the senior housing operator held a groundbreaking ceremony to announce a five-year partnership between the organizations that will promote organic farming and the consumption of healthy, nutrient-dense food.
Through the partnership, the two organizations will set up Phoebe Organic Farm on the Rodale Institute's Founders Farm on Minesite Road. Phoebe will provide funding to upgrade the farm's infrastructure such as adding things like fencing, greenhouses and irrigation. Phoebe will also provide a budget for staff that Rodale will hire to grow crops on the farm. When ready, these crops will be harvested and taken to Phoebe's campuses starting with Chestnut Ridge at Rodale and then to Phoebe Allentown. Then they plan to start delivering fresh vegetables to other Phoebe locations with anything leftover sold to the community.
Phoebe acquiring the site for Chestnut Ridge in Emmaus, where the original publishing entity of Rondale was located, is what set the stage for the partnership to occur. Scott Stevenson, president and CEO of Phoebe, said he started talking to Jeff Tkach, the CEO of Rodale, and the rest was history.
"Timing was everything," Tkach said. "Where our missions align is that Phoebe is all about fullness of life for their residents and Rodale Institute believes that healthy soil equals healthy people so we need to grow healthy food in healthy soil. This was a match made in heaven."
Tkach said when founder J.I. Rodale bought the farm it was "a most miserable piece of land," yet Rodale brought the land to life with an abundance of corn brought in from the first harvest.
"This farm had a rebirth in the early 1940s and now we get to birth this farm anew in light of this partnership. I think J.I. Rodale would be very proud of the ongoing stewardship that we're going to embark on here," Tkach said.
The farm will grow all manner of crops in all four seasons, from green leafy vegetables to root crops like potatoes and sweet potatoes as well as others like tomatoes. Planting has already started with what are called cover crops, plants grown to improve soil health and protect it from threats like pests, disease and erosion, and the first food crops will be planted in the spring. Tkach and Stevenson said that Phoebe residents will have the option to participate.
"Eventually we're going to integrate Phoebe residents so gardening will become part of their lifestyle," Tkach said. "It's not just about producing food, but we're going to actually engage Phoebe residents in farming itself."
