The Starke County Sheriff’s Office is in the running for an award from the Indiana Department of Correction for an innovative new program. The inaugural jail garden, known as the Starke County F.A.R.M. is nominated for a People’s Choice Award from the Cultivating Community Gardens with the I.D.O.C. program.
Voting is taking place on Facebook , and Sheriff Bill Dulin encourages Starke County residents to vote multiple times for the local project between now and Dec. 12.
F.A.R.M. is an acronym for Fostering A Recovery Mentality. Inmates at the jail worked alongside staff in the garden on the jail property. They planted two gardens and built two greenhouses, where flowers were grown and distributed to nursing homes and businesses in Starke County free of charge.
The gardens themselves yielded more than 3,900 pounds of produce. Dulin says about 70 percent of that was used within the jail to supplement meals served to inmates. The rest was given to nursing homes and local food pantries.
He adds the greenhouses are now being prepared for winter seedlings of vegetables and flowers to be planted in late January and can now be used to their full capacity.
“The program has been a HUGE positive experience, not only for the offenders but for the staff as well, giving them an opportunity to interact at a different level in a different setting outside the walls of the Justice Center,” Dulin said.
