In front of a crowded auditorium at Tulsa Community College’s Northeast Campus, Tulsa native and celebrity Taylor Hanson and Bama Companies CEO, Paula Marshall officially announced the plans for the beginning of a food garden project to help tackle the problem of food deserts in North Tulsa. The combined partnership of Bama, Food on the Move, and many others, with land provided by Tulsa Community College will produce a three phase project being called Food Home.
Phase one is the green houses and garden itself. With the help of Kevin Harper and other food scientists, the hydroponic garden will be able to produce food year-round.
Phase two is a grocery store stocked with the produce grown in the garden. This food will be available for purchase at prices competitive with other grocers’ non-local produce.
Phase three is a distribution center so that the food grown at the garden can be distributed to other grocers around town and delivery services such has hello fresh.
Once complete the food garden will serve not just the immediate area around the location, but the hope is that it will become a destination for others who wish to buy locally grown produce. Being located within sight of all drivers along this corridor of highway 11 should help grow the garden’s customer base. Taylor says that the Food On The Move mobile food trucks will not go away, as those are the soul of what they do.
In addition to the garden serving as a source for healthy produce, it will also be a hub for community members and school-age students who might be interested in either learning to garden for themselves or possibly to pursue as a career, providing hands-on learning opportunities.
The Food Home organization is still working on solidifying additional community partners to help support the garden, and plan to have a more public grand opening event for the public and press at a later date.