From Food Desert to Food Forest: GROW Farm Joins 2026 Richland County Ag + Art Tour
We’re proud to celebrate The GROW Farm, a Sunflower Project partner in Columbia, South Carolina, which has been included in the 2026 Richland County Ag + Art Tour.
Two Educators, One Shared Vision
The GROW Farm brings together two community efforts: Dr. Lisa Kershaw’s Joyful Souls Heirloom Nursery and Sow and Grow Education Programs, and Jennifer Cunningham’s Palmetto Learning Academy of South Carolina and its Nourishing the Neighborhood Programs. Working together, Lisa and Jennifer have supported more than 600 youth and 400 adults through sustainable growing programs.
Lisa, a special education teacher who has been gardening for more than 30 years, began by teaching students without access to good food how to grow vegetables. One of her classes built a greenhouse as a school lesson – a greenhouse she later reassembled in her own backyard to start an heirloom plant business. As schools asked for help building and revitalizing their gardens, she learned to write grants so she could provide growing education to schools at no cost.
Jennifer, a University of South Carolina chemistry graduate, was drawn to growing food after learning about the challenges facing South Carolina farmers and the fragile state of the food supply chain. She helped secure the two acres of land, donated by Lee Carroll, that are now home to the farm.
Turning a Food Desert into a Food Forest
Inspired by community food forests in Atlanta and Illinois, Lisa and Jennifer combined their efforts in 2023 to create a Community Food Forest and Growing Educational Sustainable hub. The farm held its kickoff on Singleton Drive in April 2025, and in just over a year, community members and volunteers have helped build structures, dig, and level the land.
The farm grows food from seeds and organic seedlings from Joyful Souls Heirloom Nursery, composts on site, and uses agroecological practices to keep the soil healthy and biodiverse. The harvest is donated to local organizations, sold at cost to local farmers markets, and shared with visitors and workshop participants.
Nearing completion is the Wonder Sensory Garden, a calming space where children of any age can engage all five senses – walking a labyrinth, posing in front of butterfly wings, and planting with their hands in the soil.
Growing Together
The GROW Farm’s work reflects everything The Sunflower Project stands for: connecting people, agriculture, and opportunity, and giving young people the chance to learn by doing and grow something themselves.
Read the full story in the Columbia Star: The GROW Farm included in Ag + Art Tour.
Interested in partnering with The Sunflower Project?
Contact: Kelly Ann Collins, Unstoppable Future Corporation, (703) 540-9144, kac@unstoppablefuture.org