BDCPfarm
Botanist Fernand Lequenne spoke of creating a relationship with your plants in order to help them grow. What is perhaps an even more intriguing idea is what grows inside of us when we see the life of a plant from start to finish, seed to sprout to blossom.
With this concept, along with many other reasons, the Bluegrass Domestic Violence Program (BDVP) has implemented a new form of healing for those families affected by domestic violence in the 17 counties that it serves. This healing comes in the form of a garden.
Starting with a few small box gardens on BDVP’s 40-acre home, the project has become large enough to supply the organization’s kitchen with more produce left over, which is then taken to Third Street Stuff for pick up through its online ordering system found on the website of the community garden organization Seedleaf. Darlene Thomas, executive director of the BDVP, explained that they previously served quick and cheap meals, such as chicken nuggets and fries. Now they haven’t fried anything in over a year, thanks in a large part to the work of their farm advocate Jessica Ballard; farm-to-table advocate Christina Lane; and sponsors such as Grow Appalachia, an organization that aids in the development of farms through support and knowledge.
The food is not just for the health of those being served by the BDVP. It is also a teaching tool, showing them how to make healthy meals so that when their time at the home is over, they can carry those choices with them.
The garden itself seems hopeful. Children’s laughter can be heard coming from the playground just on the other side of a wooden fence. There are painted handprints or flowers on nearly every wooden structure. Beauty and vibrancy color the peaceful place.
The feeling of community is there as well, with different sponsors’ signs dotting the place, painted brightly. One could imagine spending time there and growing among the flowers, along with the flowers.
Thomas commented that lots of the people who find their way to the BDVP have been in situations that “lend to feelings of loss, betrayal, a hardening. They lose hope and faith.” She sees the garden as a means “that begins to help restore.”
The entire thing is empowerment driven. While the garden allows for “solitude and reflection,” it also, as Thomas puts it, helps the families to realize that you “have to give a little bit to get it to grow.” Those who participate in the garden — and kids love it too — say they feel as if they are part of something bigger than themselves, a part of a community, according to Thomas. They say that it gives them a voice, while in the past they might not have been allowed to have one or have been forbidden to use it. No longer a community of the broken with loneliness in tow, these families are healing together.
While not everyone needs shelter assistance during their transition to safety, more than 300 adults and children called BDVP’s 32-bed facility home last year. Many families are first introduced to BDVP when they call the crisis line. Crisis counselors offer support to help them reach a safe point. Last year, BDVP served nearly 10,000 men, women and children in central Kentucky.
The garden, though a small part of what they are doing, has been an irreplaceable new facet in their program, according to Thomas. Women in the program prepare fresh-cut flowers for events or weddings, making up the arrangements or bouquets themselves. The families also have an opportunity to work with bees and help in the production of the farm’s honey. Right now, the honey is the only thing able to be packaged and sold, as it is pure and not processed. A commercial kitchen is the next step for BDVP’s farm, as that would allow them to prepare, market and sell their products.
The ultimate goal, aside from helping families reach a safe and healing place, is to help them grow and carry on with their lives, equipped with financial training, healthy eating habits and other skills. The commercial kitchen would allow for another skill set to be taught. Those involved would be able to see a product through from start to finish: development, testing, marketing and selling. This on-the-job learning would be invaluable to the fresh and stronger start that so many of these families need.
Thomas said that “it’s about meeting victims where they are.” There is no set course; families chart their own. There is no rush, yet no pressure to stay. Adults can choose to work in the garden, or not to. If they do, there is a stipend for nine hours spent working in the garden. The children benefit from play in the gardens and from the farm harvest, too; everything is aimed at getting these families to a healthy place.
Ultimately, Thomas said, for her and her co-workers, it is about growth and “loving people until they learn to love themselves.”