South Side Farms overcomes rain to distribute free vegetables to local residents

Drizzling rain couldn’t deter South Side Farms volunteers from handing out produce to passersby Wednesday, June 26.

Working out of a green roadside tent at 900 S. West End Blvd. in Cape Girardeau, workers and volunteers made free grab bags of vegetables for people who came by.

“We’re at the end of our spring growing season and getting ready to put in our summer crop, so we just wanted to give the community an opportunity to come out and pick what you can,” South Side Farms’ executive director Maurice Theriot said. “… It’s been remarkable. The people coming out are really appreciating what we’re doing for the community.”

Originally, the plan was for people to stop by the farm and pick their own vegetables in a process called gleaning, or collecting excess food from the garden that would otherwise have to be disposed of or transferred to a different food supply. When doing community service work, Theriot said being able to pivot when obstacles arise is an important trait. When the rains came, the farm’s workers and volunteers moved to the grab bag distribution method.

“That’s how we made that happen. Like I said, thinking on the fly, giving them an opportunity to get some of our end-of-season crops,” Theriot said.

Volunteers posted flyers at local establishments and dropped them off door to door to raise awareness about the gleaning.

"I’ve been like, 'I wish they’d let them down there and pick them.' That’s what the paper said. I was ready to put my boots on,” Cape Girardeau resident Emma Hempstead, who lives near the farm, said.

She was one of the dozens of people who drove to the site and chose a selection of vegetables to take home. South Side Farms provided cabbages, carrots, pattypan squash, garlic, kohlrabi, mustard greens and more to choose from.

“I’m going to cook it. I love fresh vegetables,” Hempstead said of the bag of produce she procured. “I tried to plant some greens last summer, and they didn’t fare very well. I just hate that I missed the greens; all the greens are gone.”

Farm manager Jake Smith joined Theriot in taking the vegetables, washing them on the property of the Shawnee Park Center nearby and transporting them back to the tent for people to pick up.

Theriot said future gleanings would be held at the end of every planting season. For the summer season, he said people would be able to pick their own beans, okra, peppers and tomatoes.

“I’m real keen on people growing their own food. I always say, 'When you know where your food comes from, you can taste the difference,'” he said.

South Side Farms was created through a community endeavor to address the nutrition needs of southern Cape Girardeau, which is in a food desert with few options for fresh produce. Theriot became its first executive director on Wednesday, May 1, 2024.

“We’re just establishing all kinds of partnerships here in the area; people who want to work with us. I believe as we begin to tell our story, more and more people will want to work with South Side Farms once they see the wonderful things that we’re doing out here,” he said.