Husband and Wife ‘Pay It Forward’ With Little Town Gardens
Candi and David Benge spend most mornings elbows-deep in their vegetable garden. Whatever these high school sweethearts don’t sell at farmer’s markets, they give to the food pantry in Kearney.
“I can’t even find words to explain what it means to us that people trust us to grow their food,” Candi said. “It’s a very intimate thing when a person grows food for you.”
The Benges pack seven greenhouses full of vegetables. They use grants from the Natural Resources Conservation Service to expand their operation and add on more facilities to Little Town Gardens. Together, the husband and wife have turned one acre of land near Gibbon into a resource for surrounding communities.
David grew up farming near Gibbon, but he and Candi came cross their current property during hard times.
“In 2005, we rented a house south of Gibbon, and we had an electrical fire in the insulation,” Candi said. “So we lost our house.”
When the Benges toured a new home, they fell in love with it. Candi could envision which bedrooms each of her kids would stay in. However, it was out of their price range, until the previous owners called them back.
“(The seller) called me and told me that the Lord had put on her heart that they should sell this house to us, even though it was $20,000 less than they were asking,” Benge said. “Things like that don’t just happen.”
Once David and Candi bought the house, the former owners called them again.
They had received a phone call from an elevator wanting to know what they wanted to do with the grain they had left over in the elevator,” Candi said. “According to the (previous owner’s) records, they didn’t have any grain leftover. And she told me that there was $20,000-worth of grain in that elevator that they didn’t know they had.”
After hearing this fascinating story, the Benges have made the most of their home.
First, a farmer inspired them to install an aquaponics system in 2017. The biodiverse system used tilapia to grow greens with roots floating in the water.
“And we haven’t looked back since,” David said.
The fresh produce feeds their family, including 11 foster children who have been in their care over time.
“God will never waste your tears,” Candi said. “And I knew that being in foster care as a teenager was equipping me to be a foster parent as an adult, and David fully supported going to classes to learn how to do this.”
Throughout their journey, the Benges always remember the acts of kindness that led to Little Town Gardens. They pay it forward by providing fresh food for their community.
By Grace McDonald knopnews2
