Keene Center at
Walnut Acres Organic Farm
Here's just a small sampling of the work we have undertaken to develop the Keene Center at Walnut Acres Organic Farm into a vibrant community space
Keene Center Organic Community Garden
The Walnut Acres Foundation has established an organic community garden to help fight food insecurity in the Union & Snyder County area. The garden is planted with complementary vegetables, herbs, and native plants. This combination of plants creates a vibrant habitat for pollinators and attracts beneficial insects to the garden.
In 2021, our original garden produced 1,500 pounds of fresh organic produce. This year we are greatly expanding our efforts and now estimate that the Keene Center Community Garden will provide over 15,000 pounds of fresh organic produce to support the great work of the Union-Synder Hunger Coalition. Planted vegetables include tomatoes, potatoes, summer squash, kale & salad greens, beans, bell & spicy peppers, pumpkins, watermelon, and assorted herbs
Working Organic Farm
The Keene Center continues to operate as a certified organic farm. In the fields surrounding the community garden, you can see examples of crop rotation in action.
The flower-filled meadow is resting this year, replenshing the nutrients in the soil to strengthen it for future crops and to help eliminate diseases from the soil.
Other crops that can be seen around the farm include organic soybeans, organic field corn, and organic wheat.
Monarch Waystation
The Keene Center at Walnut Acres Farm is now an official Monarch Waystation filled with plants to attract, shelter, and feed Monarch butterflies, bees, and other pollinators. Some of the many species planted include Butterfly Milkweed, Black-Eyed Susan, Verbena, Goldenrod, Ironwood, Sedum, Cosmos, Purple Coneflower, Zinnias, Sunflowers, Mountain Mint, and Zinnias. Of course, these plants are free from chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides that have destroyed so much butterfly habitat across the country.
