More Than a Million Servings: Our Partnership with By Faith Farm
An old pickup truck pulls into The Store most Tuesdays.
It belongs to a board chair of one of my favorite nonprofits.
Not a driver, not a volunteer coordinator. The board chair of By Faith Farm, loading the produce herself and bringing it to us.
By Faith Farm sits on 97 acres up in Joelton. They've been growing food there since 2011, mostly with volunteers — school groups, churches, businesses, veterans, thousands of hours a year.
And then they donate the harvest.
This summer they passed a million servings.
One million.
My wife and I got to be there for the celebration, which they marked by opening a you-pick flower garden. Which tells you something about them too.
I'll be honest, I don't fully understand how a farm runs that way - on volunteers, generosity, and produce freely given away.
What I do understand is what shows up on our shelves. Collards, lettuce, chard. Some of the best fresh produce in Nashville, in a season when good produce has been really hard to come by.
But the part I keep thinking about wasn't the million.
At the event, she kept talking about Tuesdays. About how much she looks forward to them.
Not because of the milestone. Because she gets to see Robbie, Sarah, and Mandy, The Store's ops team.
She knows their names. She knows what kind of week they've had.
I found myself getting a kind of emotional about a delivery schedule.
That's what a partnership looks like after a few years. Two organizations that quit being organizations to each other.
We're so grateful for By Faith Farm, and for every partner who helps us keep fresh, healthy choices on the shelves for the families who shop with us.
We can't wait to see you next Tuesday.
Here's to the next million.
Each week, By Faith Farm delivers fresh, locally grown produce to The Store—part of the more than one million servings they’ve donated to the community. What began as a partnership has grown into something deeper: a shared commitment to nourishing our neighbors and relationships that make Tuesdays worth looking forward to.
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