Every week children from the Cliff Hagan Boys and Girls Club load a bus and head from the city to Cecil Farms where they aren’t just touring a local farm, they are becoming farmers themselves. These young farmers are gaining firsthand experience from planting their own seedlings to full harvest.
“It’s about reaching the younger generation, so they know where their food comes from. Getting to be a part of the Boys and Girls Club and having the opportunity to reach kids is exactly where we need to be,” said Katie Cecil of Cecil Farms Produce, LLC. “We get disconnected and it’s important for us to reach as many as we can so that it trickles down. Hopefully, more people become connected to their food and their farmers.”
The kids involved in the program start their crop in the greenhouse located at the Mike Horn Unit on Buckland Drive. Once the plant is big enough to plant in the field they go out to Cecil Farms where they have their very own row of produce right beside the farm’s watermelons.
The row is proudly marked with a Boys and Girls Club sign and these kids don’t just watch, they get their hands dirty and are excited to learn.
“This program started in 2016. We received a grant from the Public Life Foundation and part of that was to run a ‘Positive Sprouts’ program,” said Boys and Girls Club Director of Operations, Ryan Bibb. “The focus was on planting vegetables, harvesting those vegetables and then making meals out of the vegetables they’ve harvested.”
What started out as 12-15 kids being able to participate has quickly grown to 200-215 due to the recent addition of the greenhouse built on the non-profit’s property.
“We saw how much the kids enjoyed it and how beneficial it was,” Bibb said. “We decided to build a greenhouse with the guidance of Cecil Farms because we wanted more kids to have the opportunity to take advantage of the experience. Not very many Boys and Girls programs across the state or across the country were doing it, so it was kind of innovative.”
According to Bibb, there are now 200 more kids than were served in the origination of the program.
The program that runs year-round involves children not only in the spring and summer months but during the fall they are out picking pumpkins and learning about the technology and business side of the farm.
“It’s a total community effort to make it happen,” Cecil said. “We also go and tour other farms to give them more than just the produce side of farming. We go to Hillview farms for beef cattle, Hayden Farms for poultry, and Kuegel Farms for the dairy farm tour coming up in just a few weeks.”
The Boys and Girls Club has also gained a bountiful harvest to be able to serve the community of children they may otherwise not have participated in the clubs activities.
“The thing with this program is you’re able to get these kids that don’t necessarily want to come into the Boys and Girls Club and play basketball or do arts and crafts and this is able to kind of blend some of those kids that have mixed interests,” Bibb said. “We’re trying to get kids from different backgrounds and different ethnic groups to come together and show them that coming together and working on this program is something they can truly enjoy and in turn want to be a part of.”
Cecil, who moved back to Owensboro just over 3 years ago, continued the relationship between the farm and the non-profit and now serves part-time as the agricultural director.
“For me, growing up on the farm had its advantages. For a lot of these kids in town, they’ve never been to a farm,” Cecil said. “We want to create these memories of going out to the farm and seeing the produce and seeing the goats and really wanting to be involved. At the beginning when we ask the children where their food comes from they say Walmart or Kroger. It’s awesome to see them connect and to see the excitement on their faces when they get their hands dirty when they know I’m coming to take them out to the farm.”
Bibb shared their thankfulness for Cecil Farms, the many grant opportunities that have sustained the programs ongoing educational opportunities as well as the private donors and businesses that have contributed from the community to make this opportunity available to the kids.
For more information on the Boys and Girls Club and how you can support the Agricultural Program visit their website or Facebook page.
