'A Harvest Party:' 10th annual Dine In the Dirt fundraiser event takes place on Sunday

The Southern Boone Learning Garden is hosting its 10th annual Dine In the Dirt event at 3 p.m. Sunday, according to the event page.

The night will include a silent auction alongside locally-sourced appetizers and dinner.

Jeff Branch will be cooking at this event for the second year. His late wife, Crystal Branch, and the Learning Garden’s former garden educator, Hope Sickmeier, had been close friends for over 30 years.

His grandchildren have all gone through Southern Boone schools and experienced the Learning Garden. He’s seen the impact it has on young kids firsthand.

“It’s a really good program,” Jeff Branch said.

Lead garden educator Lyra Noce said the garden provides an “immersive environment where children are in an outdoor classroom” and can help students find a passion for not only learning but science and food, too.

“I love Dine In the Dirt in particular because it gives parents and community members just a small taste of what our students get to do,” Noce said.

“Our favorite thing for our students is when they get to eat what they grow,” she said.

“We always have a little taste in our lessons, and if you ask any one of them, their favorite thing in the garden is eating,” Noce said. “So I think (Dine In the Dirt) kind of all ties it together because now our parents and families can enjoy a taste of what the garden means to the students in Southern Boone.”

Just months before Crystal Branch died, she and Jeff Branch had decided to volunteer together at the 2024 Dine In the Dirt dinner.

He has a history of cooking for the community. When their kids were in high school at Southern Boone, he was part of a group that organized a barbecue fundraiser before home games, raising about $400,000 over seven years, helping fund the Eagles Nest pavilion and new basketball scoreboards.

When it came to the garden, Jeff Branch offered to help with the cooking on a whim with his wife.

“It was just something she liked. So I thought, ‘well,’ and then we volunteered to do it,” he said.

After she died, he decided to continue cooking at the event, since he knew the garden was something his wife had liked.

Jeff Branch joins Faith Calvin, the director of Nutrition Services for the district at Opaa! Food Management Inc., who puts together the meal plan using locally produced vegetables from the garden and locally sourced meat.

Calvin said this year’s main dish will be an herb-crusted pork loin with roasted apples and onions.

Dinner will be served at 4 p.m. Calvin also mentioned hot dogs and hamburgers will be available for “kiddos or anyone who wouldn’t like the pork.”

Bidding for the silent auction opens at 3 p.m. and will close at 5:30 p.m.

All proceeds from the auction and tickets go to the nonprofit to provide supplies, compost, seeds, materials and maintenance to keep the garden flourishing.