Partridge Creek Farm Increases Healthy Food Access in the UP, Expands Intergenerational Programming with Help from the BCBSM Foundation
Jake Newby
| 5 min read
Key Takeaways
- Ishpeming has experienced massive disinvestment in the past 30 years leading to high levels of blight, poverty and opioid addiction in the town.
- Partridge Creek Farm partnered with the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation to increase healthy food access, education and community connection for vulnerable Ishpeming populations.
- PCF's Community Supported Agriculture subscription box service and its intergenerational mentorship program has turned the tide for residents.
- The nonprofit organization hopes to continue growing and provide 50 families with CSA subscription boxes in the next year.
The Upper Peninsula city of Ishpeming has felt the economic brunt of being a post-industry mining town for decades. But the small, 6,500-person town is hopeful these days, thanks in part to the food access efforts of Partridge Creek Farm (PCF).
Located in Marquette County, residents of Ishpeming have witnessed massive disinvestment over the past 30 years, especially after the 2016 closure of the Empire Mine in Negaunee, leading to high levels of blight, poverty and opioid addiction in their town.
Like many areas of the UP, Ishpeming qualifies as a food desert. Nearly 61% of all households in Ishpeming are Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) households, according to PCF, compared to the Michigan state average of 41%.
“One in two households here are having difficulty making decisions as to whether they can pay their bills or purchase groceries,” said PCF Co-Executive Director Kate Argall. “Some folks have to travel quite a bit to get fresh food.”
What started as a tiny, volunteer-led organization that taught children in Ishpeming about gardening has blossomed into an agricultural education-based nonprofit. PCF not only provides information on how to grow and cook food, but grows and provides fresh food itself, via its west end farmstand and its self-serve farmstand.
Ishpeming’s economic downturn has affected its public school district as well, leading to school flight and decreased enrollment and funding. PCF incorporates students in its programs to foster a sense of community, teach students about nutrition, agriculture and sustainability and encourage them to make lifelong healthy habits.
“We launched a farm within the last two years, and it has become an outdoor classroom for Ishpeming public schools,” Argall said. “This year, (PCF) launched a career technical education program at the high school. This fall we’ll have students, from freshman to seniors, become eligible to enroll in that program and take a class called ‘Flipping the Food System.’”
The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation Helps Partridge Creek Farm increase healthy food access
PCF partnered with the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) Foundation in 2024 to increase healthy food access, education and community connection for vulnerable Ishpeming populations. The Foundation’s $49,200 Community Health Matching Grant was divvied up across the following pivotal programs that address food insecurity, nutrition education and social connection.
- A Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscription box service: Ishpeming residents sign up to receive boxes of fresh produce. This senior-focused program includes individuals who qualify for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)/Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT). A select number of subscriptions are reserved for homebound seniors. Transportation presents a barrier, which is why PCF is currently evaluating how it can play a role in better circumventing that barrier for homebound individuals in the future.
- Community skill share presentations: Skill share presentations feature food demonstrations and tastings. Everyone is encouraged to join, but subscription box recipients new cooking skills and demonstrate recipe ideas based on the produce they received in their latest box.
- An intergenerational mentorship program: PCF partnered with the Ishpeming Senior Center as part of the grant to make more intergenerational connections between seniors and local students, including the upcoming “Grandkids in the Garden” program.
Argall said the two-year project has yielded encouraging results.
“We started with 30 people (in 2024) and what this grant has allowed us to do is scale to 40 families,” Argall explained. “Of these 40 (families) that are receiving these fresh vegetables over a 17-week period, half of those are supported by SNAP EBT. Our program is one of the few on the west side of Marquette County that accepts SNAP EBT dollars, along with Senior Fresh and other food medicine programs.”
PCF hopes to continue scaling and deliver to 50 families soon.
“We already have a wait list for next year,” Argall said. “It’s really created a sense of excitement when we release our CSA signups, and it goes very quickly. We know there’s a demand.”
Inserting hope: Partridge Creek Farm’s initiative to address food insecurity has uplifted Ishpeming
PCF is leaving its mark across Ishpeming. Drive around the small town for a few square miles and you’ll likely see one of the organization’s multiple community gardens or the Ishpeming Middle School Garden. You might see its downtown farmstand – a converted brownfield on a former hospital property – and the typically long line of people leading up to it.
“This funding and Partridge Creek Farm has inserted a little bit of hope,” Argall said. “Just taking something like a former hospital property that was not really being used, and to grow food there and feed our community and our school district with that food – it’s an inspiring and very good feeling. The community continues to show up for it.”
“Recent statistics tell us that Michigan is one of the top 10 most food insecure states in the country,” said BCBSM Foundation Program Officer Audrey Rogal. “The UP is an area of Michigan that is particularly prone to food insecurity, making the work Partridge Creek Farm does to feed and educate people of all ages so invaluable. The Foundation is proud to support its efforts to provide healthy food access to vulnerable populations in Ishpeming.”
Any time the lines are long at PCF farmstands, Argall and others within the organization step back and recognize the gravity of their work.
“By the end of last season, people were (at our farmstand) as soon as we opened, and there were 10 to 15 people of all ages lined up to get the first pick of their veggies. To witness that buzz in the air and the excitement for what we were doing was really gratifying.
“I think the second most exciting thing about the work we’re doing is to hear the students get excited about spinach,” Argall went on. “And to get excited about salad bars. And to get excited about carrots, and planting potatoes. To see it from all ages has been a cool, full-circle feeling.”
Learn more about PCF’s programs by visiting the organization’s website at this link. You can also learn more about the BCBSM Foundation’s Community Health Matching Grant, including eligibility and proposal requirements, by clicking here.
Read more Foundation stories:
- ‘This Work is the Work of My Lifetime:’ Brilliant Detroit Partners with BCBSM Foundation to Bring Vital Fitness and Nutrition Programs to 24 Detroit Neighborhoods
- ‘Every Day We See Children Making Progress:’ Lakeshore Children’s Advocacy Center Expands Critical Trauma Counseling Services
- Blue Water Area YMCA Promoting Physical Fitness, Decreasing Social Isolation Among Older Adults in Michigan’s Thumb
Photo credit: PCF
