LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A group of Louisville teens chose to spend their free time with their hands in the dirt, growing produce for themselves and their city three days a week for 13 weeks.

The Iroquois Urban Farm spans six fields in south Louisville, an area considered a food desert.

The farm is run by the Food Literacy Project, which hosts multiple projects including the annual spring program, an aging pickup truck with produce growing in the bed called "Truck Farm" and a roadside farmer's market at the Iroquois farm. The market is free to all who wish to take plants and seeds. Donations are welcome, and the staff was cordial to all who came by while we visited on a muggy June afternoon.

Tommy Middleton said he lives down the street from the farm. He spoke with us as he came by to pick up plants for his garden.

"You’re contributing to the neighborhood," he said about the operation. "You’re doing good for the neighborhood, you know – fresh food, fresh vegetables."

Emily "Avocado," as she's known on the farm, said she was happy to spend part of her spring working the land.

"It’s like a connection," she explained. "You watched it grow, you did that, you know, with the help of your crew. And it didn’t travel thousands of miles."

Though the spring program is wrapped up, its director Alix Davidson echoed Emily's sentiments and said the kids leave with more than a green thumb.

"There’s something about eating a vegetable that you know you grew yourself, and like knowing how to do it, that is really empowering," she said.

The Food Literacy Project has been operating the Iroquois farm for three years on what used to be a housing development. Davidson said they’ve worked hard to make the soil fertile again.

In 2020, they distributed more than two thousand pounds of food.