Chattanooga Times Free Press

Crabtree Farms adds new education facility

- By Alex Green Staff Writer

A concrete slab bounces the late- May sun into the eyes of Andrea Jaeger, programs director at Crabtree Farms, as she explains what the Greek- cross shaped building- to- be will look like.

Meanwhile, groups of elementary school kids are enjoying the outdoors, a day on the 20-acre farm below.

They’re part of the reason the farm took on this project, she said, because “All of our events are really rain-dependent.”

And space- dependent. And it wouldn’t hurt to have an air-conditione­d space to take these kids when it gets too hot outside.

Hence this: a 2,400square- foot concrete slab and several stacks of neat, bundled lumber. But some of the most exciting bundles of lumber you’ll find, if you ask Jaeger.

Because the concrete, the lumber and the torn up mud look and smell like progress on something the seven employees of Crabtree Farms having looking forward to seeing — a brand-new educationa­l

facility, slated to open by fall.

Hopefully, said Jaeger, it will mean more room and comfort to do all the things that Crabtree Farms has been doing since 1998, preserving a patch of agricultur­e and history in the corner of the sprawling city.

And she said it will be the community’s space, not just the farm’s.

And if the community wants to pitch in, by all means.

“We’re always looking for more support,” Jaeger said.

 ?? Artist’s Rendering ?? The Evelyn Davenport Navarre Educationa­l Building at Crabtree Farms is scheduled to be open by fall.
Artist’s Rendering The Evelyn Davenport Navarre Educationa­l Building at Crabtree Farms is scheduled to be open by fall.
 ??  ?? Staff Graphic by Laura W. McNutt
Staff Graphic by Laura W. McNutt

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