A community that grows together.
Bellevue Farms, an agricultural program of the Bellevue Community Center (501c3 non-profit), was established in 2014 to address a need for increasing awareness of healthy eating. The mission of Bellevue Farms is to increase access to fresh, locally grown food and to help build an equitable and sustainable food system. We accomplish this in part by delivering high quality garden and nutrition based education to youth from pre-k to teen that teaches healthy lifestyle decision making, entrepreneurship, environmental stewardship, and community building. In addition, Bellevue Farms increases access to fresh, locally grown food and builds community through our annual events, seasonal farmers market, farm stand, and strong community partnerships.
Bellevue Farms grows food, herbs, and flowers on site for youth educational and feeding programs, to supply our Farm Stand and Farm Cart with affordable, fresh, healthy foods, to increase access to fresh, locally grown foods, and to financially support our programming. We grow over 2,000lbs of food a year on a 1/4 acre space. It is intensive growing that requires a lot of love and a bit of sweat. Whether it is through education, buying, or providing, our produce reaches over 1000 community members each year.
Our farming practices are regenerative and sustainable. We incorporate soil conservation through no and low-till methods that keep from disturbing the soil and the fragile biology that creates fertile, nutritious environments for our plants and insect friends. We also practice water conservation through drip irrigation that limits waste and runoff from watering plants.
This means that our food is also free of any harmful chemicals. Supporting our pollinators and other animal friends is an important component of our practices. There are so many valuable benefits to encouraging a healthy wildlife population like natural pest control. Due to our work in conservation, we are now recognized as a "Certified Wildlife Habitat" through the National Wildlife Federation.
In addition, we harvest rainwater in a 1000-gallon cistern that provides water for irrigation when available. At Bellevue Farms, we use NO chemical pesticides and herbicides to ensure a healthy environment for our animal friends and for the youth and community members that participate in our farm activities.
