5 minute read
Carla Bristol / St. Pete Youth Farm
BY ERNEST HOOPER
You can point to an array of vegetables grown at the St. Pete Youth Farm, but its most important by-product may be a more valuable intangible.
“If you’ve ever visited the farm on a workday or cultural celebration, you will immediately feel a sense of community, a diverse community filled with age diversity, economic diversity, race, culture and more,” said Carla Bristol, its indefatigable director. “Yes, we grow food at St. Pete Youth Farm, but we do so much more.”
The farm arose on a cityowned lot on 12th Street S. in 2019 in the wake of another failed grocery store effort in South St. Petersburg. The resulting food desert left residents with few options to access healthy fruits and vegetables, so the idea of a community farm to address food and nutrition insecurity seemed ideal.
The City, the Pinellas Education Foundation, and the Foundation for a Healthy St. Pete partnered to make the farm a reality.
In the four-plus years since the farm started, Bristol said 100 percent of the yield has gone to the community at no charge. Thousands of seeds and more than 500-plus mini-gardens (over 2,000 plants) have gone out to residents. The farm also has taught workshops on how to grow your own food, eat healthy and how to compost. It’s all helped build a resilient, accessible food system.
The ideal has not only extended to community building, but it’s created an infusion of positivity for the teens who come out four days a week to work on the farm. Bristol has infused workforce development effort with media training, allowing the teens to serve as ambassadors. They also guide younger volunteers, and get lessons in financial literacy.
And because of a surprising discovery, Bristol added a much needed element — mental health care.
“In 2019, one in three teens working at the farm had already been Baker- Acted,” explained Bristol in a reference to Florida’s mental health crisis act. “We took immediate action and have offered mental health for our teens (once a week) over the past four years. The number now is one in 15 or none. In September, we launched similar support for the community on Mondays at 6 p.m.”
People have noticed the farm’s success. Earlier this year, LocalShops1 donated $10,000 to help create a community compost center. WEDU-PBS recently featured Bristol and the farm in its Greater St. Petersburg docuseries, and now the 2024 Leadership St. Petersburg Class of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce is looking to create a transformative project on the site.
“We were humbled to learn that we were selected because we understand how this project will immediately impact the farm now and for years to come,” Bristol said. “We anticipate a better visitor and community experience when people visit the farm thanks to the Leadership St. Pete project. Our teens and community deserve the best and our teens already feel special understanding how these spaces will be transformed.”
If the work of this Leadership St. Petersburg Class replicates the efforts of some of its predecessors, it’ll no doubt be transformational. I still marvel at the work the class helped lead at The Woodson African-American Museum of Florida. Terri Lipsey Scott, the museum’s executive director and a Leadership St. Petersburg member, convinced the Class of 2008 to recreate the museum’s backyard into a place where it could hold outdoor events. The leaders responded by raising $40,000 towards the effort.
Now it’s a garden – replete with brick pavers, plants and a lush lawn – that hosts annual events such as the recent Tampa Bay Collard Greens Festival.
One of the pavers in the garden bears the name of a sparkplug of a woman, Phyllis Eig. She was part of that class and a recognizable face on the St. Petersburg social scene for many years. When I was a columnist at the Tampa Bay Times, she called and told me I was going to write about New Orleans’ efforts to recover from Hurricane Katrina – it’s a long story – but as always, her heart was in the right place. I listened, I learned and eventually I grew to love Phyllis’ candor and cajoling.
She passed away in 2020, but that paver and that project will always be part of her legacy. With Bristol and the St. Pete Youth Farm as a partner, I’m convinced their efforts will leave a lasting impact on a community that already has people and organizations pulling together to address nutritional challenges.
“The St. Pete Youth Farm offers so much to the South St. Pete community,” said Mustafa Lakadawala, head of Leadership St. Pete’s marketing committee. “As the St. Pete Youth Farm continues to leave its legacy making a positive impact in South St. Pete, we want our legacy to be our contribution to the betterment of the farm and its community members.”
Sometimes, it takes a multitude of elements to grow a garden and make greatness rise from simple soil.
Ernest Hooper is the Senior Vice President for Communications at United Way Suncoast and a former editor and columnist for the Tampa Bay Times.
