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Food Security Commons

About half an acre of growing space could produce roughly 5,000–10,000 pounds of fresh food a year for local pantries.

Aquaponics system
Greenhouse

Fish, plants, shrimp and microgreens

A two-bay greenhouse at the edge of the woods: fish feed the plants and plants clean the water, with an indoor shrimp farm and racks of fast-growing microgreens all year.

Solar panels over crops
Agrivoltaics

Solar panels over crops

Panels make clean power while shading crops that like a little relief from the summer sun.

A bluegill
Year-round fish

A pond that feeds people and wildlife

A deep pond kept ice-free by a solar pump and bubbler. Catfish and bluegill live there all year and help stock the pantry, while dragonflies, frogs and birds move in too.

Volunteers sorting food
Pantry Pavilion

From garden to table

A pantry pavilion and teaching kitchen with a covered pickup lane, plus community plots for neighbors, veterans and new Americans, a fruit hedgerow of pawpaw, persimmon and elderberry, and a regenerative plot that builds healthy soil.

Life at the waystation

Painted lady
Painted lady
Queen butterfly
Queen butterfly
Ruby-throated hummingbird
Ruby-throated hummingbird
Hummingbird clearwing moth
Hummingbird clearwing moth
Common eastern bumble bee
Common eastern bumble bee
Rusty patched bumble bee
Rusty patched bumble bee
American bumble bee
American bumble bee
Tallgrass prairie
Tallgrass prairie