Growing Minds, Growing Bodies
story by Donna Hecker & photography by Talitha Schroeder
The everyday heroism of teachers is the stuff of legends. We’ve all heard of teachers who paid for classroom supplies with their own money, bought lunches for their kids, ensured they got home safely after a missed bus, and comforted them through the loss of a loved one.
Sharon Stone, who spent years growing young minds, now grows young bodies, too. After a career teaching at Lexington's Breckinridge Elementary, today she’s a market gardener and farm liaison for the Woodhill International Market.
It was a natural transition. Sharon and a group of fellow teachers began volunteering several years ago at the Woodhill Community Center, which provides infrastructure for the market and serves the Breckinridge neighborhood. As she explained to us, these were her children and she felt that teaching their minds was a natural step toward nourishing their bodies with healthy food.
Every other Thursday, volunteers pack boxes full of food shares for 40 families, many of whom have children enrolled at nearby Breckinridge Elementary. The shares are sold to families on a sliding fee scale. Not only does Sharon coordinate farm purchases for the shares, she even grows some of the produce herself in a small garden plot tucked between a couple of houses on East 4th St. in downtown Lexington.
There on a strip of land about 30’ wide and 60’ deep, bordered with plum and pear, fig, pawpaw and cherry trees, Sharon tends neat beds of vegetables and herbs. The lot was deeded to Seedleaf a few years ago by the owners of one of the adjacent homes before they put their house on the market, and Seedleaf asked Sharon if she’d be interested in taking care of the garden.
When Sharon first moved to Lexington 30 years ago, she bought a house with a beautifully landscaped yard and garden. Knowing she wouldn’t have the resources to maintain the landscaping, she and her father pulled everything out except the garden. That was her first exposure to gardening on her own. “I checked out lots of library books. And worked long and hard and learned something every year.”
At the 4th St. garden, she grows greens and carrots, herbs and lettuces, carrots, radishes and pole beans. There’s a patch of strawberries in one sunny corner. Sharon has christened this garden spot Two Suns Farm, a playful reference to her own two sons, Myles and Elijah.
Knowing the work that goes into growing food, Sharon never negotiates with the dozen or so farmers who supply produce for the Woodhill food shares. “I want them to have a fair price. If we can’t afford something, we’ll look for an alternative.” Most of her farmer suppliers are in the central Kentucky area, one is as far away as Crestwood, about 80 miles northwest of Lexington.
Dressed all in green and sporting miniature lemon earrings, Sharon is a one woman example of how several Lexington organizations work together to address food insecurity, equitable access to fresh food, food education and environmental sustainability. Organizations like FoodChain, where Sharon serves on the board.
“When Covid hit, we were really worried about what our kids would eat.” So when Leandra Foreman – now FoodChain’s executive co-director – asked her to join the board, there “was no way I could say no because of how they organized and fed our kids at Woodhill.” Among its many projects, FoodChain operates an indoor farm, delivers meal boxes to Lexington residents, processes excess produce for retail outlets, and offers educational programming.
Sharon went through Seedleaf’s Market Gardener program, which trains growers in basic horticultural and business practices. Seedleaf’s executive director, Christine Smith, says Sharon is “a gem — strong, thoughtful, graceful, honest, and a damn good grower and teacher.”
GrowAppalachia provided an irrigation system for the 4th St. garden. Sharon’s husband, who has a retirement job with Lexington’s Urban League, turns it on as he heads to work in the morning, and sends her updates throughout the day. She’s also grateful for the support she gets from entities like Home Depot and the Fayette County Extension Service.
As we say our goodbyes and Sharon closes the garden gate, she tells us she plans to continue farming for the families of her Breckinridge kids “as long as the Woodhill Center is there and we’re still living.” Once a teacher, always a teacher.
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Sweet & Sour Southern Cherries
We stumbled across a cherry tree in Sharon Stone’s urban garden. Her husband had just picked most of the ripe ones but we tracked down more at a Frankfort friend’s house and made this quick pickle with bay leaves from our soon-to-be-open Cooking Studio. They’ll be perfect for your summer charcuterie board.
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