Helping Others with the Junior Farm Academy

 

Cindy Clark, former public-school teacher sees a need in our community.  Young people are not eating enough vegetables and with disease and health issues mounting, something must be done.  The Junior Farm Academy is helping others eat more veggies.  They offer classes where they teach young people how to care for and grow their own their own food.

 

Cindy has been growing her own food for years.  She got interested in microgreens when she was diagnosed with a Mechanical Bowel Obstruction from scar tissue that had attached to her small intestines. Her GI doctor told her she would not be able to consume any fiber.  That meant no more salads or raw vegetables. Cindy went on a mission because she knew she could not live on white processed bread alone.  She experimented with juicing, sprouting, and pureeing vegetables to help her get the nutrition her body needed without having to eat raw, high fiber vegetables.

 

One day she discovered something called microgreens. She did some research, and this seemed to be the answer to her problem because microgreens are more nutritious than their adult counterparts and lower in fiber.  She started growing her own microgreens and adding them to her smoothies. Instead of eating regular lettuce she used microgreens for her salad base. Cindy got her life back.  She is now able to get the nutrition she needs to live a health lifestyle. 

 

When she started eating healthy, she realized her son was not eatting vegetables. This had to change.  She started experimenting again.  She learned she could sneak vegetable puree into his spaghetti sauce and cauliflower into his mash potatoes to help him eat the vegetables he needed but the heat was diminishing the health benefits of eating raw vegetables.   

 

During the pandemic, Cindy became concerned about her ability to get fresh food.  Stocking up food meant cans of processed food and that wasn’t going to work for her sensitive stomach. This concern fueled her desire to figure out a way to preserve her fresh sprouts and microgreens that she was now eating and growing year round under grow lights.  She started experimenting again.  She tried dehydrating her microgreens and freezing them, but she wasn’t happy with the results.  Then she discovered a freeze-drying process that would not damage the nutritional content, taste, or color of her microgreens.  Nowadays, Cindy is growing a variety of 12 different microgreens and sprouts and adding the freeze dried microgreens to her son's diet.  When the water content is removed from the microgreens, the taste isn't as strong so she was able to get her son to get the freeze dried microgreens in a greater variety of ways.    Anything she cannot consume or sell fresh, she freeze-dries and blends together to preserve the microgreens for years to come.   

 

As Cindy was growing her own sprouts and microgreens at home, her son and the kids in their community became interested in what she was doing and wanted to help. Cindy wondered how many more kids in their community would share the same interest, and in turn avoid junk food and be curious growing their own food and eating healthier. Thus, the Junior Farm Academy was created. The organization aims on teaching kids how to grow their very own microgreens through classes offered at The Well STEM Educational Center in Pampa.

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Contact Text or Call:

615-483-5382

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