Janus Farms Institute
Siler City, N.C. 27344

Program no longer in existence. We will leave the story online for the purpose of illustrating its model.

This small but effective program uses as its symbol the Roman god Janus -- the god of gateways, who looks forward and back, namesake of "January" -- because, like Janus, they hope to take advantage of the best of the old and the best of the new: They advocate composting, for example, reusing organic material to grow nutritious crops; and avoiding chemical and synthetic pesticides and weed-killers to grow healthy food. But they also embrace the new when it's good, using computers heavily and taking advantage of new research in intensive raised-bed gardening.

The real key to its innovation, however, lies in its commitment to teach: Not only does Janus Farms advocate individual raised-bed gardening, but it has evolved a thorough, quality curriculum that it uses to impart that knowledge to low-income neighbors who take new knowledge away to create "mini-farm" gardens in their homes and neighborhoods, offering their families and friends a new source of nutrition that's healthful and clean.

As with many very good, replicable models, this one is so simple in concept and execution that it doesn't take long to tell about: It began in 1991 when Kate Chester Havel, a local woman, decided to turn her organic-gardening knowledge into a work-at-home income by teaching neighbors how to grow their own mini-farms. Before long, the small business was transformed into a non-profit organization and the gardening workshops into a self-reliance training initiative. Now, low-income families come to the Institute through referrals by community non-profits and church groups and word-of-mouth. Following individualized training programs that may run for as short a time as 12 weeks or as long as six months, working at first in the Institute's compact garden area and then building raised-bed gardens in their own homes, the students work through an inch-thick Mini-Farm Manual, a comprehensive and detailed three-ring binder, learning how to prepare garden beds, select and grow appropriate produce.

"It may not be appealing to people accustomed to large-scale agriculture, but people, especially women, who walk in and see our mini-farms, they say, 'I can do this,'" said former staffer Sally Jamir, who first became involved with the Institute as a student herself, in one of its earliest classes. Although the work of building a 100-square-foot raised-bed "mini-farm" involves some labor at first, the actual maintenance is low, Jamir said; and a family can possibly cover as much as one-fourth of its produce needs with home-grown crops that are likely to be more organic and "clean" than grocery fruits and vegetables.

The project remains small, reaching perhaps 7 to 10 individuals in a growing season and maybe 40 over its life. But it's simple and compelling and seems highly replicable; and it costs very little to provide, operating out of a country house that belongs to the founder, using almost entirely volunteer labor and an annual budget around $5,000 to $7,000.

If money permitted, Jamir said, they'd like to have graphics prepared and turn the manual from a three-ring binder into a real book (a product that I think could have national potential and should be fundable). They'd also like to begin "teaching teachers," encouraging individual students to take back their new gardening knowledge not only to their families but to their neighbors.

All the feature stories on @GRASS-ROOTS.ORG's pages are reported and written by Robin Garr, a prize-winning journalist who has visited more than 500 innovative grassroots programs in all 50 states since 1990.

Browse his book, Reinvesting In America, at Amazon.com.

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