Media Release
WHAT:
The Nashville Food Project invites community members to join in planting a new community orchard at The Community Farm at Mill Ridge Park.
Since 2019, The Community Farm at Mill Ridge has served as The Nashville Food Project’s largest urban agriculture site. Located in Antioch at 12944 Old Hickory Blvd, the farm includes more than three acres of community garden plots where growers cultivate food and build connections with neighbors.
This spring, the farm will expand with the addition of a community orchard featuring more than 200 fruit trees and berry brambles. Once established, the orchard will increase access to fresh fruits and berries for growers at Mill Ridge and neighbors throughout the surrounding Antioch community.
In addition to producing food, the orchard will support environmental health by expanding the tree canopy, improving soil quality, and creating habitat for pollinators. It will also serve as a gathering space where neighbors can learn, connect, and steward the land together.
Volunteers attending the Orchard Planting Party will help take the first steps in establishing the orchard. Tasks may include labeling trees, organizing materials, digging planting holes, planting trees and brambles, and mulching around each new planting. Opportunities will be available for volunteers of varying abilities and experience levels.
Participants are encouraged to wear clothes suitable for outdoor work, including long pants and closed-toe shoes. Volunteers should bring a filled water bottle and may wish to bring hats, sunglasses, or layers depending on weather conditions. Garden gloves, bug spray, sunscreen, and water refill stations will be available onsite.
No prior gardening experience is required. All are welcome to participate.
This planting is part of a larger effort to grow Nashville’s network of community orchards. By December 2027, The Nashville Food Project plans to plant the first 10 community orchards in low-income, low-access neighborhoods across the city and train at least 20 community orchard stewards to care for them.
Orchard stewardship and maintenance plans will guide this work, supported by annual workshops that train stewards in horticultural best practices. Along the way, we will engage at least 100 volunteers in planting and caring for these shared spaces.
Looking ahead to the end of 2026, the Community Orchard Manager will lead outreach and community engagement to identify and onboard at least 10 additional orchard partners for new sites to be planted between 2027 and 2029. This work will include evaluating orchard sites, designing orchard layouts with community members, developing tree and supply lists, and training local stewards in orchard care and long-term maintenance.
Together, these orchards will become places where communities gather, grow food, and cultivate lasting care for the land and for one another.
WHO:
The Nashville Food Project
Community volunteers
WHEN:
Friday, March 27
Saturday, March 28
8:15 AM – 12:00 PM CT
WHERE:
The Community Farm at Mill Ridge Park
12944 Old Hickory Blvd
Antioch, TN 37013
MEDIA CONTACT:
Esperanza Merritt
communications@thenashvillefoodproject.org
Registration Link
About The Nashville Food Project
The Nashville Food Project was born from the belief that all people should have access to the food they want and need. In pursuit of that vision, we bring people together to grow, cook, and share food, cultivating community and working to alleviate hunger across our city.
In Nashville, one in seven people lacks consistent access to enough food to sustain a healthy lifestyle, while more than 40% of all food goes to waste. Hunger is not caused by a lack of food alone. It is shaped by systems. Poverty, unemployment, low wages, and rising housing costs all contribute to the challenges many of our neighbors face.
We believe food can be a powerful tool to foster health, belonging, and justice in our community. Through our kitchens, Community Agriculture Network, and partnerships across Nashville, we work to transform surplus into nourishment and connection.
In 2026, we will share more than 344,000 scratch-made meals and recover over 330,000 pounds of food, supporting after-school programs, immigrant communities, homeless outreach organizations, and many others across Nashville.
Grow — In our gardens, we grow organic food intensively, and share resources with others interested in growing their own food.
Cook — In our kitchens, we use recovered, donated and garden-grown food to prepare and cook made-from-scratch meals.
Share — In our community, we share nourishing meals in partnership with local poverty-disrupting nonprofits and community groups.
The Nashville Food Project embraces a vision of vibrant community food security in which everyone in Nashville has access to the food they want and need through a just and sustainable food system.