The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta History Center pivots to help hungry
Using farming skills, staffer grows hundreds of pounds of food.
Fresh-from-the-farm produce is arriving at the doors of some hungry metro Atlantans with help from an unexpected source: the Atlanta History Center.
The center for years has offered school children and other visitors a glimpse into life on a mid-19thcentury Georgia farm — down to the cotton, sorghum and other crops in the field.
But since the pandemic, Smith Farm, a historic site on the center’s Buckhead campus, has shifted to producing fresh vegetables to be given to households that lack adequate food.
As of mid-May, about 120 pounds of greens, sweet potatoes and pumpkins have been delivered by the center to the nonprofit Concrete Jungle for distribution.
Emily Roberts, the history center’s director of urban agriculture, came up with the idea last year and swung into action as the pandemic’s potential became clear and the center closed to the public on March 13.
“I just wanted to come up with a way to contribute,” she said. “Everyone is doing what they can to respond to an increasing number of people who need food and a decrease in the amount of food coming into places like food banks and food pantries.”
Katherine Kennedy, executive director of the Concrete Jungle, said the history center’s donations are a big help. The nonprofit has launched a new home-delivery program for the elderly, chronically ill and others who are in need and sheltering in place.
“We are feeding 270 families a week, so we’re distributing a lot of food,” she said.
Roberts is a great farmer with top-of-the-line growing practices, Kennedy said.
“The food she gives us is clean, perfect, no chemicals,” she said. “It’s really, really amazing stuff.”
Fresh veggies aren’t the only thing the history center is donating to the families Concrete Jungle helps.
To go with the produce deliveries, the center has pitched in nearly 100 packets of okra seeds that Roberts collected from previous harvests. She said she hopes families will use the seeds to start their own vegetable gardens.
Sheffield Hale, CEO of the history center, said the project with the Concrete Jungle fits well with the center’s mission to connect people, history, and culture to make a better city.
“We do a lot of things off our campus, in the community,” Hale said. “This is the first time it’s something consumable and delicious.”
In the past, the vegetables grown at Smith Farm, formerly Smith Family Farm, have primarily been used for cooking demonstrations and other history center events. What wasn’t used was taken to the center’s staff break room for sharing.
Roberts said planting continues at Smith Farm and could yield a total of about 500 pounds of fresh vegetables for donation this year.
“If we all do just a little something, that adds up to a lot,” she said.