Garden off Interstate-70 leaning on plant sales to feed thousands

INDIANAPOLIS — Indy Urban Acres is still a few weeks away from planting their fields for the season due to the cold.

The greenhouse is already filled with pallets of plants being sold online for annual plant sale which benefits the farming operation. The goal is to raise $100,000 that will be invested in the cause to produce 60,000 pounds of fresh produce for the season.

The plant sale is currently open at iuaplantsale.com.

"There are thousands of people in our community who need food," said Indy Urban Acres director Tyler Gough.

Indy Urban Acres grows food on two pieces of land in Indianapolis. One is an acre and a half and the other is three acres.

The greenhouse off of Interstate 70 serves as the headquarters.

The organization will lean on hundreds of volunteers during the growing and harvesting seasons.

"It's so fun to fine tune what we grow for people and to see the delight when people see we have a certain pepper that they love or cherry tomato that they adore," said Gentry McDuffee.

Indy Urban Acres works with a number of food pantries and during the season will every week provide 250 Marion County families will one week's worth of vegetables and fruits until the harvest is over.

Among the top food grown include tomatoes, peppers, green beans, onions, watermelon, collard greens, kale, peas and cantaloupe.

"It's helping. It's basically one less stress on a family to have food in the refrigerator, have healthy food for their children," said Gough.

The Park Alliance of Indianapolis which supports traditional parks in is also focusing on making the best use of greenspace.

"We have 212 plus parks in the park system and just rethinking the way they can most benefit our community. Indy Urban Acre and the way that it serves I can definitely see that expanding," said Parks Alliance Creative Services and Information Director David O'Rourke.