A Fulton Rotarian's project to provide nutritious food for the Fulton Soup Kitchen has been selected as a finalist for a grant that recognizes innovative project ideas that aim to improve the community through support and education.
A group of Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company employees selected Tammy Wickham's Tower to Table project as one of 10 finalists for the Grinnell Working Together Community Grant Program. Wickham wants to donate an aeroponic tower garden to the Heartland Church of the Nazarene's caravan outreach program she's involved with that sometimes makes desserts for the Fulton Soup Kitchen.
"I just filled out a grant and I didn't want to burden any of the volunteers, so it would be something that we have at the church, and we'd have four of them," Wickham said. "We would just grow the produce and take it to the soup kitchen, like we do when we made our treats for them."
Wickham said she never talked to anyone at the soup kitchen about the Tower Garden or asked for anyone's permission, but she thought growing nutrient-dense produce would go a long way in maximizing food donations to the soup kitchen, which feeds between 40 and 80 people every night. Wickham said one tower, which costs about $525, may produce more than $1,500 worth of food in one year.
According to Grinnell Mutual, 47 projects were submitted, with the finalists being selected based on each "project's focus on unmet needs in a community and its ability to leave a lasting impact."
Now Facebook users are voting to determine the top three projects, with the winners receiving $2,000, $1,000 and $500, respectively.
Wickham has been sharing posts on Facebook "day and night" and via email to garner support, but she will need help from the community in her effort to alleviate food insecurity in Fulton. The Tower to Table project has some stiff competition - it's currently in fifth place with 392 votes, trailing the third-place entry by 394 votes. The first-place project has 1,000 votes.
Wickham first learned about the Tower Garden when her daughter started working for a company called Juice Plus+, which sells capsules of juice powders from fruits, vegetables and grains. Future Growing, a division of Juice Plus+, developed the Tower Garden and her daughter showed her the product, thinking she'd be interested in purchasing one.
"When she first introduced this to me we had just bought a house and the year before I had raised beds, so I had an outdoor garden, and when we moved, I didn't have room for that," Wickham said. "So I was kind of looking for something where I could still garden in a small space, so I just fell in love (with it). It has met my needs because I can have produce and not spend as much time weeding, and you use 90 percent less water because the water just cycles through the unit instead of being soaked into the earth where you have to re-water. It's just a really cool concept."
Last winter, she had three Tower Gardens in her basement. Not only was she able to grow lettuce and spinach all winter-long, but the towers yielded more produce than she expected.
"When a crop heads, there's 24 ports in the tower, and when the lettuce gets ready to pick, you cut it off and it re-heads, and so you get a lot of produce from just a few seeds," Wickham explained. "When you think about a pack of seeds cost - a $1.50 or whatever - you've got enough lettuce and spinach for the whole winter, so it's virtually no expense to keep it going once you acquire one."
The aeroponic growing system has also saved Wickham money on groceries. She claims the produce is "better than organic."
"There's no chemicals on it," she said. "You know how it was grown. A lot of times the produce that we get from the grocery store is picked so early that the nutrients haven't had a chance to fully develop in the produce ... It's more nutrient-dense ... You don't need to add chemicals to it, especially because you grow it indoors - you're not fighting pests."
Wickham said Tower Gardens are especially popular on the West Coast, where there are strict water restrictions. In addition to lettuce and spinach, Wickham grows spices like basil, chive and arugula. Outdoors, she said people usually grow tomatoes, cucumbers and watermelon.
"With the tomatoes and the cucumbers, we don't necessarily focus on that so much because so many of our farmers are doing that and providing produce for the soup kitchen," Wickham said. "People share when they have an abundance."
With only a few days remaining before the winners are announced, Wickham is confident the project can make the top three.
"Fulton's a huge town, and I think the last time I checked we were down by just 700 votes," she said. "We have a few days left to earn the votes, so I know we can do this; we just need to get the word out. I think a lot of folks just don't understand what it (Tower Garden) is because they've never heard of it before."
Votes can be submitted once per day on the Grinnell Mutual's Facebook page until 2 p.m. on Nov. 18. The three winners will be announced the same day.