CFR DONOR SPOTLIGHT: RED WIGGLER CARE FARM

CFR Donor Spotlight: Red Wiggler Care Farm 

For March’s blog, we reached out to our contact at Red Wiggler Care Farm, Rachel Armistead. Red Wiggler has been a member of Community Food Rescue since 2016 and has donated 22,732lbs (18,943 meals) since then. Read on to hear what Rachel shared with us. 

“Red Wiggler Care Farm, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit here in Montgomery County, was founded in 1996 to create an inclusive community where all people can come together to work, learn, and grow. Our name, “Red Wiggler,” pays tribute to the hardworking worms that enrich the soil—just as we cultivate opportunities for growth and success for everyone in our community. 

In 2024, we updated our name from Red Wiggler Community Farm to Red Wiggler Care Farm to reflect our commitment to the Care Farming movement, which uses therapeutic farming to foster health, well-being, and belonging. Through meaningful employment, sustainable agriculture, and education, we nourish our community with fresh, healthy food. 

Red Wiggler’s programs fall into three pillars: Work, Learn, and Grow. 

WORK: Red Wiggler’s Grower Program employs adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Growers are involved in all aspects of farming and distribution, including planting, harvesting, field and facilities maintenance, tool usage, and greenhouse management. We also run a seasonal apprentice program that provides opportunities for aspiring care farmers to learn through hands-on work experience. 

LEARN: Education is at the core of all programming at Red Wiggler. Red Wiggler hosts youth and adults with and without developmental disabilities for tours, field trips, workshops, and consultations for farm-based educational and volunteer experiences. A few years ago, we also founded the Care Farming Network to raise awareness about care farming, build community, and increase the capacity of care farms. Through virtual and in-person gatherings, mentorship, consultations, and an annual conference, the CFN supports the 300 care farms within its growing national network. 

GROW: Our traditional CSA customers receive weekly shares of certified organic produce, as well as newsletters and recipes that promote healthy eating and environmental stewardship. Through our Farm to Food Bank and Farm to Group Home programs 50% of our total vegetable yield is distributed to people in our community who have limited access to fresh produce.” 

  We asked Rachel to share about the crops that they grow! 

“Environmental stewardship is one of our core values here at Red Wiggler. One way we achieve this is through crop diversity. This year, we are growing over 175 different varieties of organic vegetables, herbs and flowers! Cultivating a wide variety of crops attracts pollinators, disrupts disease cycles, and nourishes the soil. And all those varieties add up–last season, we distributed over 30,000 pounds of organic produce to our community.” 

We asked what inspired the Red Wiggler team to join CFR. 

“Providing food to our whole community, no matter socioeconomic status, has always been a main tenant of Red Wiggler’s mission. We were eager to join Community Food Rescue to further this work. CFR’s ability to make sure the food we are donating gets used by those in need gives us confidence that the vegetables we grow go to good use.” 

Finally, as the 2025 growing season kicks off, we wanted to check in to see how things are looking on the farm! 

“The season is well underway at the farm! The greenhouse is filling up with seedlings and new seeding is happening every week. Throughout the winter, the team works to review the prior season and prepare for next. Any warm day is busy getting the fields ready and our Grower, Volunteer, and Education programs are all ramping back up.” 

Thanks so much to Rachel and Red Wiggler Care Farm for sharing this with us! We are so appreciative of the work that they do for the community and for always supporting CFR!