In my experience, when you want to see something change, the best thing you can do is start the change yourself. That is what Tucson Village Farm Founder Leza Carter did. She had been working for a local tribe as an outdoor educator and had several school gardens. This was her first exposure to the benefits of kids getting their hands in the dirt and seeing how food grows. The kids she was teaching were high risk and many times, malnourished. Bit by bit the separated school gardens started to fall apart and she realized that something needed to be done to create a more cohesive learning environment. It was then that Leza had an idea for a centrally located urban farm that all schools could have access to and all kids could learn from. Tucson Village Farm was born.
Leza broke ground 10 years ago with help from her friends and her tools from home. Today the farm serves 15,000 kids a year, over 100 schools and provides 55,000 hours of education at the farm, the majority of which is delivered to low income people in Tucson. It has all been a labor of love for Leza and a true grassroots effort. The goal is to reconnect kids to a healthy food system and to get them to add more fruits and veggies to their diet.
I arrived at Tucson Village Farm just before about 4 buses loaded with second graders showed up. With a quick hello to Leza and her team, I fell in line with the kids and started out a day at the farm. They ventured from station to station, stopping to dig in the dirt and learn a bit at each stop. From pulling a carrot out of the ground, washing it and eating it as a snack (YUM) to learning about whole grains and then enjoying them in a bagged of freshly popped corn, it was easy to see the kids connection to their food. They learned about bees, chickens, greens, grains and more. I could hear exclamations of excitement as they made their way through the farm...with different kids getting excited about different things. It was clear that the farm is hitting the mark and reaching Leza’s goals kid by kid.
When the day was done and the kids loaded back on the bus, I spent a little time with the staff and volunteers there. They ranged from 4H kids working on a project to a young man who was so impacted by his time at the farm when he was younger that he has continued to come back and help extend the farms reach to more kids who really, really need the farm...just like he did.
Leza is a FarmHer who had a vision for change. She not only had the vision, but has run forward and created an absolutely amazing program that serves thousands of kids in her city each year. Her vision and hard work is creating change for kids by showing them something new, something different and allowing them to get their hands dirty as they experience the farm.