Scott Koepke, creator of NewPi’s Soilmates program, transitions to new role with Grow: Johnson County

Scott Koepke comes from a long line of educators. His great grandmother taught in a one-room school house, his father taught at Jefferson High School and Kirkwood, his sisters and brother, too, teach in the Corridor.

But unlike the rest of his family, you probably won't find Koepke in the classroom.

It's far more likely you'll find the bearded 53-year-old in the garden, teaching children — and sometimes adults — about the science of soil.

After graduating from Iowa State University with a political science degree in 1985, Koepke joined the Peace Corps. He planned to go to law school after graduating, but instead was sent to Senegal, an African country where more than 50 percent of the population is food insecure.

Malnutrition is rampant, especially in rural areas, and Koepke's job was to assist these villages through gardening.

Although it wasn't his first exposure to gardening — his grandmother Helen was the one to 'plant seeds' in him, he said — working with the soil in Senegal sparked something in him he didn't expect. It was his 'light-bulb moment,' he said.

When he moved back to Iowa after a year and a half in Senegal and eight in California, Koepke discovered at least one in eight people is food insecure. That's almost 400,000 people statewide and more than 18,500 in Johnson County alone.

Taking what he learned in the Peace Corps, Koepke developed a popular program at New Pioneer Food Co-op, called Soilmates, in 1998. For almost 20 years, Koepke traveled to nearly 40 schools around the Corridor each year to teach students about organic agriculture and the local food system.

But last year, John Boller, the director of the Coralville food pantry, approached Koepke with an idea. The Johnson County Board of Supervisors was taking proposals for food-related projects for the Johnson County Poor Farm in Iowa City.

The farm, off Melrose Avenue, historically was used to house the poor and mentally ill. To help compensate the county for their care, residents were expected to do farm chores.

Today, the white milking barn, horse barn, smaller buildings and the cemetery in the woods still remain on the property, unused for many years.

When Boller pitched what's now known as Grow: Johnson County (GJC), the hunger relief and gardening education project was met with unanimous support from the board and a five-year lease on two acres of land on the farm. After raising funds, building partnerships and improving the farm's soil quality with cover crops, GJC volunteers started planting fruits and vegetables this spring. The goal is to combat food insecurity in the county by growing at least 25,000 pounds of fresh, healthy and organically produced — not yet certified organic — food for local hunger relief agencies.

The food will be distributed through Table to Table, a volunteer delivery service for the hungry, homeless and at-risk populations in the Corridor. GJC also will have education programs that teach gardening and food production skills to those with limited knowledge or resources.

That's where Koepke comes in.

Koepke 'is one of the community's biggest assets when it comes to garden education,' Boller said. 'He's the ideal person to empower the next generation of growers.'

When Boller asked Koepke to join GJC as a partner, Koepke said he cried tears of joy. He began work at the GJC May 20. Boller is director.

As GJC's director of educational programming — the 'final lap around the track' of his career, as Koepke put it — he'll be responsible for educating disadvantaged populations on how to do get their hands dirty and grow their own food, which he believes is a 'fundamental life skill.'

He plans to lead summer camps for children and work with local prison populations and detained juveniles because 'too often, we focus on punishment instead of rehabilitation' in our jail system, he said.

Teaching life skills such as farming gives people the chance to make changes, learn from their mistakes and move on, he said.

Plus, the state needs more vegetable farmers, he said.

'Food doesn't just come from magical fairies at the grocery store,' he said. 'There's so much potential for local food production that we haven't tapped into. ...

It's not just about growing food, it's about growing people.'