The late Terry Snyder at Heartbeat Farms (Submitted photo)
A decade of feeding the community at Heartbeat Learning Gardens
- Published: May 18, 2026
By Alissa Paolella
When Andrew Manieri and his partners decided to wind down their community-supported agriculture operation after 13 years, they were not walking away from farming. They were walking toward something they believed mattered more.
“What was most satisfying was seeing people learning and connecting to the realities of food and farming,” Manieri said.
From that decision sprouted Heartbeat Learning Gardens, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit farm at 3372 Hustead Road, just north of Yellow Springs and south of Springfield. It is a place the organization describes as sitting in the “Yellow Springsfield” community it serves.
Since reorganizing as a nonprofit in 2016, Heartbeat has donated all its organically grown produce to local food pantries; this year marks a decade of that work. In that time, the farm has given away approximately 50,000 pounds of fresh vegetables from about an acre of garden. The farm has donated approximately 4,500 pounds of fresh organic produce in the most recent growing season.
Manieri said the work Heartbeat undertakes is, in part, responding to food access inequities that are already baked into widespread racial and socioeconomic inequities.
“We’ve occasionally used the phrase ‘food apartheid’ to bring attention to the reality that food insecurity is a serious structural problem in our society, rooted in systemic injustices, rather than just natural or bad luck,” he said.
That framing reflects Heartbeat’s dual mission: address hunger directly through produce donation while teaching community members to grow their own food using methods designed to sustain the land for generations.
The farm spans four acres and includes vegetable gardens, fruit and nut trees, pollinator gardens, chickens, protected wildlife habitat and a creek. About 1.8 acres are in annual vegetable production. The operation is small-scale and no-till, with soil tended mostly by hand.
A 21-workshop series began in March and runs through October this year, covering topics from seed starting and soil health in early spring to fermenting vegetables and managing invasive plants in the fall. Manieri said the workshops draw a wide mix of participants.
“People are looking to learn directly in a place that is rooted in doing what it is teaching,” he said.
Located about three miles north of Yellow Springs, the farm sits squarely between two towns with different demographics and resources. Most workshop participants and supporters currently come from Yellow Springs, Manieri said, but Springfield is increasingly part of the picture.
“We’ve been getting to know Springfield better and better these last few years,” he said.
The farm’s most visible fundraiser of the year is its annual plant sale, running Mother’s Day weekend, May 8–10, from 9 a.m.–5 p.m. It continues May 16–17 and May 23–24, from 10 a.m.–3 p.m., or weekdays by appointment. Thousands of organically grown starts will be available for sale, including native pollinator plants, vegetables, culinary herbs and annual flowers.
The plant sale comes at a moment when Manieri says the organization needs community support more urgently than usual.
“Things have become more difficult financially,” he said. “Becoming more widely known and being able to obtain adequate support is essential for being able to continue our work.”
For years, he said, Manieri has preferred to let the farm’s output speak for itself. That instinct, he acknowledged, has its limits.
“I’ve often been hesitant to say too much or ask for much, wanting our work to speak for itself,” he said. “But we need more people to spread the word about our work, to donate, volunteer, and come and buy plants at our plant sale.”
The next workshop, “Pollinator Gardening,” is scheduled May 23. More information about workshops, the plant sale and how to support Heartbeat Learning Gardens is available at http://www.heartbeatgardens.com
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