St. Joseph Community Supervision Center’s garden grows pumpkins for local children’s home.
Children in St. Joseph, Missouri.
Story by Marcus Wilkins. Photos by Garry Brix.
It’s autumn in the Show-Me State, where morning mist lingers between crop rows as the rising sun burns it off. Look closely and you’ll see hundreds of pumpkins, some orange, some still green —most destined to become jack-o’-lanterns and pies — peeking out from the ground-covering greenery.
shows off freshly plucked produce.
David Walker, probation and parole assistant II, surveys the field like a seasoned farmer, listing the produce harvested from the St. Joseph Community Supervision Center’s (CSC) one-acre Restorative Justice Garden. Apples, asparagus, blackberries, cabbage, corn, green beans, peppers, watermelon and zucchini (to name just a few crops) soak up the rays while residents help work the soil.
“This is my 15th year overseeing the garden, but it has definitely been a bit of a learning process,” said Walker, who grew up on a farm in Buchanan County. “We started out small — probably half of this area — and have just gotten bigger and bigger.”
The fruits and vegetables — 13,000 pounds in 2026 — are delivered to a variety of not-for-profit facilities and causes, including the local Red Cross, Second Harvest Food Bank and the Crossing Outreach homeless center in St. Joseph. The CSC is even growing lilies in its greenhouse for delivery to elderly residents at nursing homes.
But during spooky season, pumpkins are the stars of the show. Residents load the bounty onto Walker’s truck for delivery to the Noyes Home for Children less than a mile away.
“I believe in getting your hands on the dirt,” said Jessica Meyer, also a probation and parole assistant II, who teaches several classes at the CSC. “It brings you back to reality, clears your mind, clears your soul. It helps the residents to get outside regularly instead of stuck in their own heads.”
Meyer, who also enjoys canning produce from the garden (“She makes a mean salsa,” said Walker), leads the bunch to the school, where they adorn the sun-dappled steps with the seasonal squash.
Greeting the group is Makayla Hancock, marketing director for the Noyes Home.
“Giving CSC residents the opportunity to have a positive impact on their community and contribute to these kids’ brighter future is really special,” Hancock said. “Many of the kids here have family members who are justice-involved, so it’s a full-circle thing. It’s kind of cool to see it all come together.”
