Troostwood Youth Garden: Can you dig it?

Jessica Baker, 19, and My-he Matigae, 5, pull weeds out of the Troostwood Youth Garden. Baker has worked at Troostwood since it was started.

Ericka Wright, 42, started the Troostwood Youth Garden at her home at 5142 Paseo in 1999 as a place of activity for kids in the neighborhood. She has lived at the house for 37 years. Wright is disabled by muscular dystrophy, and wanted to give kids at her house something productive and positive to do — so she decided to start a garden. With help from neighboring Rockhurst University the garden was born. Troostwood has expanded every year and now Wright has two vacant lots on either side of her house, including the lot on the south side, which Rockhurst owns, to use for the garden. She learned how to farm from her mother and grandmother and from attending an eight-month class at Growing Growers. She said she thinks the farm teaches kids to appreciate the food they eat and where it really comes from. Wright says that Troostwood grows everything that they can, vegetables from A to Z.

Jessica Baker, 19, and My-he Matigae, 5, pull weeds out of the Troostwood Youth Garden

“I think that you should grow your own food. At least you know what you’re doing to it,” Wright said. The thing that makes Troostwood unique is that the youth do much of the work. These are neighborhood kids who vary in age from 13 to 24. The older kids have been working at the garden since they were young. During a growing season, about 10 kids work in the garden. This allows them to see and taste vegetables in a new way. “Now that we have a garden, I love to eat all vegetables, it’s much fresher,” said Jessica Baker, 19, who lives at Troostwood. Jessica has worked at the farm since it was started and didn’t like to eat vegetables before the garden was started.

“We try everything raw first, then we try to find different recipes,” Wright said. The kids know how to do all the planting and harvesting and can answer questions better than some of the other growers. Because Wright’s mother runs a daycare at the house, there are always kids of different ages around. The older kids can teach the younger kids how to manage the garden. “Outside is the best classroom,” Wright said. The kids working at the garden receive stipends for school supplies such as uniforms. They also learn the value of teamwork and leave with knowledge about the food they put in their body, an ability to start a garden on their own, and a deeper understanding of when certain foods can be grown.

“People don’t know seasons. We are so accustomed to the grocery store, they think that we can grow broccoli all year around, but there’s a season for everything,” Wright said. People who want to buy locally can purchase what’s in season at Troostwood’s farmer’s market. Troostwood has their own farmer’s market on Friday night and Saturday, but food can be bought there just about anytime except for evenings and on Sunday. People walk or ride their bike to the garden to get the freshest food. The nearest grocery store with vegetables is on 47th Street, but the food at Troostwood is much fresher. “Ours [food] is fresh, so fresh that when you come, we pick it as you tell us you want it. No grocery store is that fresh,” Wright said.

The local community is very supportive of the garden. Wright says that though there are not very many customers, the ones they do have are loyal. Wright is very proud of the garden and will continue to teach kids in the community life lessons by growing food. “It’s better then having a parking lot,” Wright said. “I can feed you.”

- Tyler Waugh