Growing Power YPP Mississippi Update

(As told by April Dortch, Site Director, Jackson, MS)
This past September, YPP Jackson participated in its first two-day training workshop as a part of its Growing Power sustainable agriculture program. The training took place at the YPP Mississippi property also known as "The House". This property and land was recently donated to YPP and will be converted into Regional Organizing and Training Center and for our work with Growing Power. In preparation for the workshop, we were able to build relationships with local farmer's markets and stores to pick up there damaged produce and cardboard boxes on a fairly large scale to build a compost heap. We also collected finished compost and were shipped 30 lbs of red worms from Growing Power. We are now caring for the worms as livestock as they will be crucial in our plans to begin growing products next year. We are also planning to increase the number of compost piles that we build over the next year, since it takes a ton of compost to yield a usable amount of compost. The worms must be fed once a week, prefer sweet fruits, and are always multiplying. Another important outcome of the workshop was the construction of a "hoop house" (pictured above).