Student Farm Blesses Others

Story by Janel Ware

This summer, Immanuel’s Ground: The Shenandoah Valley Academy (SVA) Farm, supplied 450 pounds of broccoli, as well as beets, cab-bage, kohlrabi, radishes and basil for the Potomac Conference Camp Meeting meals. The vegetables were grown and harvested by students, led by Philip Wiygul, agriculture director. The SVA campus family thanks the agriculture team for their hard work and the delicious results. And a special thanks to the donor family whose vision and generosity make the SVA Farm program possible.

Students are having this invaluable experience today as part of the SVA work-study program where each student holds a job on campus that helps pay their school bills. They enjoy the satisfaction of growing healthy fresh food for their friends and faculty to eat in the cafeteria. They learn the value and rewards of work while learning how to grow vegetables, berries, herbs and flowers.

Working at the farm market, students serve and get to know local community members. The SVA Farm partners with the John Henry General Store and the New Market and Valley Fellowship churches, all located in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, offering free monthly produce giveaways where students share produce they have grown and kindness with beloved neighbors.