Spartanburg, South Carolina (WSPA) – When you think of airports, you probably think of baggage claim and crowds. But if you’ve been to Spartanburg Memorial Airport recently, the gardens will come to mind.
Spartanburg Downtown Memorial Airport Director Terry Connaughton said:
Connaughton said he spoke with the Hub City Farmers Market after acknowledging the existence of food insecurity in Spartanburg. They said airports sound like an unlikely place for a successful garden, but in reality it’s the opposite.
said Dori Burgess, Executive Director of Hub City Farmers Market. “So it’s a form of using those carbon emissions for real purposes, which is better for the environment.”
The people who help take care of the garden are doing internships at the Hub City Farmers Market. This internship aims to show children in the community why the process of growing food is so important.
“The biggest thing children learn from growing their own food is what it takes to get that food to the grocery store and to your table, and more importantly, a lot of effort, a lot of time and a lot of love. I think we need to have more,” says Ben Lea, Urban Farm Manager.
Part of the gardening process is also exposed to other children in the community.
“Activities such as planting seeds and harvesting crops are conducted by local schools and Girl Guide and Boy Scout organizations as learning opportunities,” Connaughton said.
Food grown at the airport not only feeds the many people in the communities who need it most, but it’s also fresher because it gets from local gardens to your table faster.
“If you can shorten that period, the nutrients in that food will be much more on the table the moment it’s served than if it had been brought from a green tomato in South Florida, loaded onto a truck, and driven for miles upon miles.” I ended up at the local supermarket,” Lee said.
Hub City Markets uses mobile markets to deliver food from airports to local residents.
“The concept of the mobile market is to stop in low-income areas and areas with less access to local, fresh, healthy food,” said Burgess. “Thus, mobile markets will stop in these food-dessert communities to serve food grown here.”
Spartanburg hosts the state air conference in February, and food grown at the Spartanburg airport will be served to guests from across the state.