News
Heritage Garden Seeds Community Spirit
Date:
April 2009
By Stacy Smith Segovia
The Leaf-Chronicle
If you have yet to get out and dig in the dirt this spring, get inspired
by the local Brandon Hills community.
The Brandon Hills Youth Heritage Garden is a neighborhood garden on
Commerce Street near downtown Clarksville that allows people living in
the area to work together and share the harvest.
A project of the Mount Olive Cemetery Preservation Society under the
leadership of Geneva Bell, the garden aims to pass on the legacy of
gardening to young people who don't have backyard gardens of their own.
"Our mission is the education at-risk youth how to provide healthy food
choices for themselves and their families," says the project's Web page
at
www.mtolivecemetery.org.
Garden leaders hope to give young people a sense of accomplishment by
growing their own foods and successfully caring for living things.
A few weeks ago on a cold Saturday morning, dozens of people gathered to
prepare beds and plant cold-season vegetables, as well as to celebrate
the new and thriving project.
When the planting of white potatoes, red onion, dill, kale, lettuce,
collards, broccoli, cabbage and other cold-season veggies was finished,
septuagenarians and other experienced gardeners shared their gardening
advice with the youngsters.
Lewis Collins, 77, says gardening is hereditary, and trying financial
circumstances will make sure the skill is passed on to the next
generation.
"I inherited it; you inherited it," he says. "In the future, everyone's
going to raise a garden. Money and hard times push us back to where we
should have been anyway. Don't count it as a chore, count it as a
privilege, because you're God's fellow worker."
Collins, who has 54 years of gardening know-how, also speaks of the many
advantages of growing one's own food.
"When you plant a garden, make it good to look at. Use flowers to keep
insects off your food," he says. "You are organic farmers. If you grow
it, you know what you put in it."
He says purchasing commercial fertilizer is one option, but a better one
is using dried manure. He invites people to his farm to collect it.
"Bring a bucket," he says. "Cow manure is the best kind."
Collins says he enjoys talking about the garden of Eden while wearing
gardening gloves. The Creator himself taught us to garden," he says.
"There's nothing more beautiful than to see a garden grow."
He advises diligence in caring for one's garden.
"If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right," he says. "Keep the weeds
out of it. Don't work the ground wet in springtime. Plant your seeds and
watch them grow, then at harvest time you will smile, smile, smile."
Vivan Fairrow advises people to take joy in their gardens and not fret
over them.
"What you get out of it is what you put into it," Fairrow says. "Don't
worry about the weather. You do your part and He'll do His part. He will
take care of you and your garden."
City Forester Clint Patterson speaks of how he has seen commercial
farming operations change over the years, becoming more mechanized.
"Gardening is about all we have left now that ties us to the land," he
says. "And it's one of the few things that ties us together as a
community. There's nothing wrong with getting outside. That's how you
get to know people. You mingle and become friends and you're happy. If
you sit in front of the TV and watch the news all the time, you're not
very happy."
The goals of the Brandon Hills Youth Heritage Garden are numerous:
·
Engage the local community in efforts to reclaim their
neighborhoods and turn empty lots into beneficial spaces which reflects
the cultural identity of the people who create them.
·
Restore African-American and Latino-American youths' lost
agriculture heritage.
·
Increase overall vegetable consumption by providing fresh,
organic and delicious food.
·
Provide gardening activities which give youth productive,
educational and confidence-building activities.
·
Increase daily recreation (physical fitness) and social
interaction with older youth and retirees in the community