Goodness Grows

Goodness Grows is a non-profit that works with schools, community groups, congregations, workplaces, and individuals. We are located south of Youngstown, at Common Ground Church Community in North Lima. Being housed at a 31 acre former garden center gives us plenty of room to grow produce for our CSA, farmers markets, and area food pantries. We are a work site for classrooms, mission trips, and volunteers, where participants can be involved in a variety of indoor and outdoor hands-on projects. We provide education and job training for students and adults with disabilities, while offering internships for their typically developing peers. Our goal is to improve people's lives through social and therapeutic gardening practices.

Goodness Grows is known for our Canfield Fair award winning hot pepper jams, which we call Jungle Jam. We also make other items, like Juicy Jam (fruit jam with no peppers), herbal tea, organic catnip toys, and crafts. The main crops grown here are leaf lettuce, micro greens, onions, tomatoes, peppers (hot & mild), potatoes, squash, carrots, cucumbers, and herbs such as chives, basil, cilantro, thyme, sage, and parsley. Additional crops can include zucchini, celery, peas, green beans, strawberries, flowers and much more. We try new items each year and always keep some old favorites.

The crops we grow make up our CSA orders. We also take them to farmers markets when possible and strive to donate at least 10% to food pantries. In addition to our produce, our CSA includes value added items such as Jungle Jam, salsa, and pesto, as well as corn stalks and pumpkins, if available, in the fall. We also work with area farms to include locally sourced, ecologically grown vegetables and fruit to increase food diversity and to highlight all our area has to offer.