Urban Garden Movement Hits Johnson County DOC
As the urban garden movement continues to spread, even inmates in Johnson County are starting to grow veggies. On Thursday, they harvested produce in new garden patches that stand like small islands in a sea of grass outside the Johnson County Department of Corrections Adult Residential Center, near the New Century AirCenter. Story in The Kansas City Star.
This is the first year for the garden, which is tended by residential inmates, work-release prisoners and offenders confined for substance-abuse treatment.
The operation already has donated hundreds of pounds of food to charity.
Kevin Burdick, 31, of Olathe, is one of the gardeners. He engaged in credit card fraud because of a drug addiction, he said, and is getting substance abuse treatment.
Swinging a plastic bag filled with cherry tomatoes, he said people like to sign out of the adjacent treatment center and stroll to the gardens.
“Sometimes you just need to get away,” he said.
He has watched the crops prosper — including squash, onions, peppers, cucumbers and melons. “It makes you feel good,” he said.
The inmates like helping others, but they also like eating some of the vegetables, said corrections supervisor Tom Tysver.
As for their diet otherwise, he said, “You don’t want to say it’s lower end, but the food here, it is what it is.”
Tysver helped organize the first garden, and inmates did the work. They dug, planted and weeded, and now they are harvesting.
A horse farm owner donated manure for the garden at 141 Mission Parkway. Olathe gives compost to citizens and because some inmates are from Olathe, they received some free compost.
Lisa Simkins, 43, of Kansas City, Kan., also was picking vegetables Thursday. She has a forgery conviction and is also getting drug treatment.
“Holy cow,” she said of a big cucumber she picked.
She’s helped water and weed and now pick, she said. “It’s fun; therapeutic, I guess.”
When picking ended, Tysver glanced at the surrounding grass. Someday, gardens could replace it all, he said.
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