Greenville Forward Thinking Creating Community Conversation to Inspire Change

Beyond the traditional neighborhood community garden, there are many other groups of people growing food in the Upstate, such as faith-based communities.  Faith-based community gardens are funded and supported primarily through religious organizations, such as churches and synagogues or faith-based non-profit organizations. Faith-based gardens are often developed with the intent of providing fresh produce to members of the religious organization or those in need in the local community. Some produce donations from the bounty of these gardens are provided to soup kitchens, homeless shelters, or food banks to ensure that those in need have access to healthy, fresh, and affordable produce.

Here in Greenville, there are existing community gardens at First Christ Church, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, John Calvin Presbyterian Church and St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, to name a few.  In fall 2011, Triune Mercy Center joined the community garden network when volunteers and parishioners alike joined to build 4 raised beds.  The food grown in Triune’s small plots supply weekly grocery distribution to families and individuals that would otherwise lack fresh produce.  There are plans this spring to expand the garden with blueberry bushes and fig trees!  If you are a member of a faith-based community and want to start a community garden, contact Gardening for Good today!

As we mentioned last week, the heart and soul of a community garden is its members.  Although most people imagine community gardens to be a few raised beds serving a handful of families, they are actually as diverse as their human counterparts, ranging in size, function, purpose, style, and vegetation.  In Greenville, each garden is unique in its own way and over the next few weeks we will highlight some of the diversity found among Greenville community gardens, starting with the most recognizable: the neighborhood community garden.

For most people, the traditional community garden is located in a neighborhood setting to help build community ties while experimenting in the garden.  In neighborhoods both large and small, gardens are supported by the surrounding residents. Most garden volunteers live in the neighborhood surrounding the garden, creating a heightened sense of community and place. Although neighborhood gardens may receive volunteers from outside residences, they are primarily organized and run by local residents dedicated to the garden effort.

Here in Greenville, community gardens are in neighborhoods all across town, possibly right near you!  For example, Greenville Organic Foods Organization (GOFO) sponsors a community garden in the North Main neighborhood.  Greengate Community Initiative started a community garden on reclaimed land in their neighborhood on the eastside.  The Hampton Street Children’s Garden works with neighborhood children to grow produce to distribute to residents in the Hampton-Pickney Historic District.  City of Greenville also supports gardens in the Greenline-Spartanburg and Nichotown neighborhoods.  To the north, innovative residents in Sans Souci planted a community garden to support friends and neighbors last year.  Overall, neighborhood gardens are robust and flourishing in Greenville.  If your neighborhood or community association does not yet have a garden, contact Gardening for Good to discuss the possibility today!

As we described last week, Gardening for Good is a network and resource center for community gardens in Greenville, SC.  So, you may be wondering, what is a community garden?

At Gardening for Good, we support the American Community Garden Association’s broad and inclusive definition of a community garden as any piece of land gardened by a group of people.  We believe the core aspect of a community garden is civic engagement, or more plainly, the people.  Although gardens are composed of a variety of produce, herbs and flowers, community gardens come to life through the tender love and care of their garden members.  For this reason, we seek to include and celebrate the many types and varieties of community gardens available in Greenville County.

Community gardens can serve various communities including neighborhoods, after school centers, public parks, schools, churches, businesses and non-profits.  The more than 40 community gardens here in Greenville serve all of these different communities and more!  Over the coming weeks we will provide highlights of community gardens, but for now here are a few highlights.

As you can see from these photos, community gardens range in size, format and style, reflecting the various community where they are located.  Greenville, SC has a very diverse range of community gardens – contact Gardening for Good to get involved today!