Springtime has been full of beautiful growth throughout our region and within our organization. Grow Ohio Valley has you to thank. I’m so excited to see our organization welcoming and embracing volunteers in reinvigorated ways this year. Our urban and rural farm sites are abuzz with folks digging in to make Wheeling and Ohio County a beautiful and healthy place to live. It’s thrilling. The work is an investment that pays off immediately for those of us getting to breathe and disconnect from digital reality, but also for community members who will eat cucumbers and tomatoes, and sit in the shade of apple and peach trees looking out over a healthier Wheeling tomorrow. A heart-felt thank-you to all our friends making time to grow with us in this deeply meaningful way.
Let's keep growing!
Glynis Board
Interim Executive Director, Grow Ohio Valley
WE ARE HIRING:
WHEELING FOOD HUB MANAGER
Starting and growing a small food-business is hard. Start-up costs are often high, knowledge and resources hard to find. It doesn’t have to be this way!
GrowOV is building the Wheeling Food Hub to assist small farmers and food businesses with the resources, equipment, and guidance they need to grow. The goal is to provide everything needed to turn a farmer’s harvest or a restaurateur’s dish into value-added, shelf-stable products on grocery store shelves.
The WFH manager will oversee the operation of the Wheeling Food Hub (WFH), greatly advancing Grow Ohio Valley’s larger mission and work growing the Ohio Valley’s local food system. The WFH Manager ensures that the WFH meets its mission of assisting food entrepreneurs in starting, growing and sustaining their local food businesses. This is a full-time salaried position.
BUDDING WHEELING: BECAUSE WHEELING
IS WORTHY OF BEAUTIFUL THINGS
At Grow Ohio Valley, we know healthy plants require healthy roots, and we endeavor to tend to ours intentionally in the garden, on the farm, and in the community. We’ve been asking, listening, taking notes, and leaning in. One message we’ve heard loud and clear:
Bell peppers are great, but how do I keep the lights on?
After giving this a lot of thought, we developed a new program designed to get adolescents in our neighborhood in the garden, farming, and financially compensated: Budding Wheeling.
In this seven-month pilot flower farming program, eight Wheeling teens are employed and gaining entry level farming experience that fosters skill development in leadership, entrepreneurship, community engagement, and sustainable agricultural practices. They’re growing, marketing, and distributing their own flowers.
Here’s how you can help:
Visit our flower stand at the Public Market Thursdays between 11AM - 5PM, July 7th through August 11th. Meet our budding entrepreneurs who, when asked to develop a business slogan, decided their small start-up flower business was important, “because Wheeling is worthy of beautiful things.”
