WE GROW
MORE THAN
VEGETABLES

Our mission is to ignite the spark of curiosity within Appalachian youth so they see themselves and their futures in new and exciting ways.

We do this through our food, farm, and arts-based nonprofit social enterprises where youth are provided employment and gain essential skills.

But, that is only the beginning of their journey.

We offer more than a job. From day one, our dedicated Mission team utilizes a holistic youth development approach focused on social-emotional learning and the development of the individual’s assets and gifts. This creates a safe and nurturing platform where they explore, challenge, discover, and dream. This multifaceted approach maximizes all the benefits of teen employment and transforms the workplace and our social enterprise businesses into dynamic living classrooms.

OUR MODEL

We are the first project of Farms Work Wonders, a non-profit umbrella social enterprise, that creates living classrooms (such as our bakery, market, farm, production kitchen, glass works studio and restaurant coming 2023) to provide real-life experiences and generate income.

The nonprofit social enterprise model allows us to address historically negative economic development in Appalachia. Unlike traditional businesses, that often have extracted profits for outside interests, we do things differently. We create opportunities for youth and the broader community through sustainable enterprises and reinvest 100% of the fruits of our labors locally.

WHAT WE DO

YOUTH

ADVANCEMENT

ORGANIC

FARMING

LAND

CONSERVATION

COMMUNITY

REINVESTMENT

OUR LIVING CLASSROOMS

FARM

The farm allows us to teach healthy eating habits, organic farming methods and practice, land conservation, biodiversity of crops, soil management, food handling and storage, irrigation, organic pest management, crop rotation, seasonal veggie subscriptions (CSAs), indoor growing and harvest for wholesale, and much more.

MARKET

The market allows us to teach customer service, hospitality, retail sales and operations, stocking, inventory, display, food handling and safety, restaurant management, along with marketing and working with other farm products, and much more.

BAKERY

The bakery allows us to teach cooking and baking, culinary skills, food preparation, food handling and safety, pricing strategies, product development, wholesale production, kitchen and equipment management, supplies and inventory management, planning, order fulfillment, and much more.