Today we’d like to introduce you to Josh Taylor.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Do Good Farm exists to end hunger and malnutrition through sustainable farming and teaching people to grow their own food. We want to get beyond shipping boxes of rice and beans over and over again and empower people to provide for themselves. We design all of our farms so that food can be harvested every single day of the year. One of the keys to sustainability is closing waste loops where waste from one thing becomes input to another thing, so we have multiple farming methods working together to accomplish that.
We currently have projects in Burundi, Africa, Honduras and at a local charter school where we are building a farm-to-table school cafeteria concept. We’ll grow the food that is used to feed the kids at the school. Nutrition plays a HUGE role in how our brains and bodies function. The goal is to solve two really significant problems:
1) It’s super challenging for schools to be able to afford nutritious, fresh fruits and vegetables. With a few dollars, we can buy thousands of seeds and grow them out.
2) Even if there was some magic way to afford it, it doesn’t guarantee that the kids will eat it, so it really matters that the farm is on school property. We’ve found that when kids can participate in the process and plant a seed and watch it grow, they are much more likely to eat their vegetables. And the farm becomes an incredible STEM learning laboratory where they get to learn all kinds of concepts, from math to science and social studies in an exciting, immersive environment.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
COVID really slowed down the permitting process with Orange County. It took over eight months to get the permit to build the greenhouse, but we’re through that challenge now.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
They can sign up to volunteer or donate on our website.
Contact Info:
- Email: josht@dogoodfarm.org
- Website: www.dogoodfarm.org
- Instagram: /dogoodfarm
- Facebook: dogoodfarm
- Twitter: @dogoodfarm
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXoFGIAFb7e17V12-8ZmLLw
