The Welcome Garden: A hub where new immigrants to Nashville work alongside volunteers

In 2020, while visiting Nashville Food Project’s Growing Together farm, Anne Hardin suddenly asked a question that would change the lives of her family and community: “What can we do to share our farm?”

Two years later, Anne and husband Doug had dedicated a portion of their family’s Goodlettsville land to farming, introduced pigs and chickens, and hired regenerative farmer Tim Kercheville to consult.

They developed a nonprofit organization, formed a board of directors and began hiring immigrant members of the community. In the first growing season, The Welcome Garden harvested 14,000 pounds of produce and 6,000 eggs.

On Thursdays and Saturdays, The Welcome Garden becomes a vibrant hub where new immigrants to Nashville work alongside volunteers, staff and several generations of the Hardin family.

“Here we’re all working together,” Anne says. “When families come to the U.S., women are often isolated at home. Their spouses go to work, and their children go to school or need to be cared for at home. The Welcome Garden gives them part-time income, childcare in the children’s garden, a sense of community, and the ability to work on their English, too.”

Their second year of community-supported agriculture (CSA) has grown to provide a weekly bounty to more than 45 families, from May to November. Second Harvest invested in 15 of those CSA shares, which The Welcome Garden distributes to new immigrant families who work on the farm, to friends at a nearby church, and to Body & Soul food pantry at Church of the Advent in South Nashville. After CSA distribution, any remaining produce goes to Magdalene House residential program for women survivors of trafficking and prostitution. In the off-season, eggs are distributed to the food pantry at Madison Church of Christ Benevolence Center.

Looking ahead, Anne and her team are working to help the new immigrant workers form a cooperative, which will open more opportunities for employment, while Tim mentors the team in regenerative farming practices.

“There’s so much land, and there’s so much need,” Anne says. “My hope is that this garden inspires other landowners to share. If you have land, you can do this.”

thewelcomegardentn@gmail.com