By EMMA HOPKINS

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — In the food desert of Indianapolis, an urban agricultural program called Growing Places Indy has vowed to serve the parched community by planting food in the sand.

Parts of the United States are considered ‘food deserts’ by the USDA, meaning they greatly lack access to fresh fruits, vegetables and other healthy whole foods. Indianapolis is one such area. But in 2010, an effort was organized to combat the food insecurity and lack of fresh foods in the area when a small nonprofit called Growing Places Indy partnered with the Chase Near Eastside Legacy Center at 506 N. Oriental Street to start an urban farm.

Now, Growing Places supports five urban farms, several outreach programs and provides low-cost fresh produce to the community. "We often have kids pull a carrot out of the ground who had no idea, other than maybe a cartoon, that carrots really look different on the top and on the bottom," said Sarah Adams, program director.

"It’s so satisfying to pull your own dinner right out of the ground, wash it and then cook it up immediately."

The five farms managed by Growing Places Indy are grown in a spin model – that is, crops are stripped, hoed and reseeded or transplanted right after harvest. Each farm is managed by an employed farmer and are all overseen by the head farm manager, Tyler Henderson.

Given the time and expense it takes to have an organic farm status, Growing Places is not certified, though its methods are entirely organic. The farms are:

•Chase Near Eastside Legacy Center: Comprised of raised beds, a greenhouse, hoop house and U-Pick beds for customers, this farm is the largest of the Growing Places Indy sites. A boxcar converted into a produce storage container is located there, along with an area where nutrition and cooking classes are held.

•Slow Food Garden at White River State Park: The White River farm, intentionally placed in a high-traffic area, is where the Growing Places Indy veggie farm share (CSA) program takes place. Growing Places hopes to attract many visitors to this spot to facilitate education on agriculture. This year, 23 CSA members took part in the farm share program to enjoy a portion of the food harvested from the urban farms.

•Cottage Home and Public Greens farms: One of the smaller urban farms, Cottage Home is 2,200 square feet of vegetables that contribute to local restaurants as well as the CSA. The Public Greens Farm grows food exclusively for the Public Greens Kitchen restaurant.

All profits from Public Greens support The Patachou Foundation, whose mission is to feed nutritious after-school meals to at-risk and food-insecure children in Indianapolis. The farm is located on the Monon Trail in Broad Ripple.

•Eskenazi Health Sky Farm at the Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital: The Sky Farm, located on the roof of Eskenazi Hospital, is open to the public so patients, doctors and residents can see and enjoy agriculture in action. Food grown on the Sky Farm is sold in the hospital and is used in nutrition and wellness classes at the site.

Adams calls herself a "jack of all trades" but a more precise description of her job might be "life coach." She coordinates outreach programs that often take place right on the Chase Farm to help the community grow well, eat well, live well and be well.

"It really is that four-pronged approach which makes the job so joyful," she said. "We are completely dedicated to getting healthy food out to where it needs to be, and to empower individuals in communities to grow well and live well, eat well and be well."

Adams teaches grant-funded family nutrition classes that show participants how to pick food at the farms and cook and eat it just an hour later. In addition, Growing Places hosts an Eat Well Club, which is an afterschool program at a middle school.

Growing Places Indy believes to carry out its mission of promoting wellness, fitness needs to play into their programming on top of eating well. "There’s always a yoga component to everything that Growing Places Indy does," Adams said. "It’s not just important to eat well, you also have to move your body. So each of our educational programs use a yoga component."

The executive director for Growing Places, Laura Henderson, wife of the urban farms’ manager, is a yoga instructor who teaches donation-based meditation and yoga classes at the Indianapolis Winter Farmers’ Market, also run by the nonprofit. Adams manages the 50-vendor market, which draws more than 1,000 consumers each winter Saturday.

Donations from the yoga classes go directly to the dollar-for-dollar program of the Growing Places Farm Stand, which is a SNAP-matching program that runs from June to mid-September. People who want to use their SNAP (or food stamp) benefits at the farm stand or winter market can get a dollar-for-dollar match, which doubles their food options.

"The farm stand reaches more people who are more food-insecure, and it has really low prices," Adams said. "Produce can be bought for half the price it would be at a farmers’ market, in some cases; it’s simply a way to get healthy food into market holes."