At a shuttered Texas coal mine, a 1-acre garden is helping feed 2,000 people per month

Volunteer gardeners, from left, Ava Moore, 18; Caleb Rappolee, 17; Pera Taylor, 11; and Salaya Henderson, 11, pick fresh onions at the Dewey Prairie Garden in Donie on June 29. The Dewey Prairie Garden is a pilot program by NRG as it continues the Jewett mine’s environmental reclamation. (Credit: Joe Timmerman/The Texas Tribune)

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DONIE — Five homeschoolers pick fist-size garlic cloves, green jalapeños, strawberries, squash and kale on a breezy Thursday morning in late June. They’re volunteering at a local food garden where bright orange marigolds attract bees from a local keeper’s hive.