Our mission is to expand opportunities for Appalachian youth,
so they grow to reach their greatest potential.
Launched in 2016 on the historic 100-acre Frye farm, our initial hope was to create a small farm market that would provide ten new jobs locally.
Today, our farm project is certified organic and has a bustling produce market and from-scratch bakery that employs 70+ people, including 50+ local high school students.
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, and soon to be launched restaurant and production kitchen) 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.
We measure our success by our local impacts through:
PEOPLE
Creating educational and economic opportunities
PLANET
Protecting the natural environment
PROCEEDS
Reinvesting 100% of proceeds locally
