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From left: Ava Moore, 18; Caleb Rappolee, 17; Pera Taylor, 11; and Salaya Henderson, 11, volunteer gardeners, pick fresh onions at the Dewey Prairie Garden in Donie on June 29, 2023. The Dewey Prairie Garden is a pilot program that practices the final stages of NRG Jewett Mine’s environmental reclamation process that takes on average 12 years from start to finish.

At a shuttered Texas coal mine, a 1-acre garden is helping feed 2,000 people per month

The garden in the middle of a 35,000-acre former mine is supplying thousands of pounds of fresh produce to families in three counties that have few grocery stores.


Volunteers prepare fresh vegetables donated by the Dewey Prairie Garden for distribution at the Lord’s Pantry of Leon County in Buffalo, Texas, on June 29, 2023.
Dewey, the farm cat, cools off in the dirt while volunteer gardeners pick vegetables from the Dewey Prairie Garden near Donie on June 29, 2023. The Dewey Prairie Garden is a pilot program that practices the final stages of NRG Jewett Mine’s environmental reclamation process that takes on average 12 years from start to finish.
Debbie Glaze, 61, NRG Dewey Prairie Garden Master Gardener, picks a freshly grown cantaloupe from a row of fruits and vegetables at the Dewey Prairie Garden near Donie on June 29, 2023. The Dewey Prairie Garden is a pilot program that practices the final stages of NRG Jewett Mine’s environmental reclamation process that takes on average 12 years from start to finish.

Company set aside $112 million to restore mine

A truck drives away from a dragline excavator and across a dirt road that winds between layers of sediment in a section of the NRG Jewett Mine that is undergoing environmental reclamation in Jewett on June 29, 2023.

Moving dirt and replanting old mine pits

Mark Payne, 62, the dragline operator, excavates and moves tons of dirt in the process of environmental reclamation at the NRG Jewett Mine in Jewett on June 29, 2023. Payne has been working at the mine for 37 years, and has been operating the dragline for 17 years. “We’ve been here, in this part of the mine, just trying to fill this hole for almost a year,” Payne said. “It takes quite a long time.”
Joe Harris, 56, planning specialist and former reclamation supervisor, left, explains the environmental reclamation process at the NRG Jewett Mine in Jewett on June 29, 2023.
Mark Payne, 62, the dragline operator, excavates and moves tons of dirt in the process of environmental reclamation at the NRG Jewett Mine in Jewett on June 29, 2023. “We’ve been here, in this part of the mine, just trying to fill this hole for almost a year,” Payne said. “It takes quite a long time.”
Volunteers and employees at the Leon Community Food Pantry and Clothes Closet in Jewett work together to cart food to a client on June 29, 2023. The grandfather of Kristy Vandergriff, pantry director, is the property owner of a part of the NRG Jewett Mine.

Garden feeds local families


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