Tag: Gateway Greening Community Gardens

Once upon a time, in the city of St Louis, MO, there was a certain vacant city lot, and on it was nothing but tall grass and equally tall weeds. It was also a dumping place for plenty of trash, in all forms from various places and people. So one lady, by the name of Rosie Willis, decided something positive should be done about that city lot – a blight on the whole area.

A garden! That would create beauty as well as a great source for fresh, organic vegetables for the surrounding neighborhood residents. This was in the year of our Lord 2009. So what did Rosie do? Well, first she asked her neighbors if they would like a vegetable garden on the lot, where all the trash, mean weeds and grass was growing. Everyone was thrilled about such an idea! So, as spokesperson for her neighbors, Rosie went to City Hall. There, she checked all the records are kept on local land and buildings, and discovered that the land belonged to the Comptrollers Office. The director was eager to lease the land to Rosie’s community group for only $1.00 dollar for five years!!

Hallelujah, hallelujah! The land was theirs, and Rosie and her neighbors could start their garden. But how???

Rosie and her neighbors didn’t have money to buy the things they needed as start up gardeners. But that didn’t stop Rosie. She sent letters to all of the surrounding churches. Unlike most communities, Rosie’s had an abundance of churches nearby. So, thinking that she would surely get help from her neighborhood churches, she contacted each pastor of every church (about 20 or more) and asked for $1 dollar. To strengthen her case, she showed proof that the community group was operating with a 501(c)3, under the  umbrella of the Neighborhood Organization at that time. In the end, not one church responded to their request for help, not even the churches located on the same city block as the garden.

Determined to succeed, Rosie turned next to their city Alderwoman, Marlene Davis, for financial help. After many late night emails, early morning emails and phone calls from Rosie to the Alderwoman, the answer was still “we don’t have any money right now, but we’ll work on it.” So Rosie kept at it. She and her neighbors were challenged with so many obstacles and stumbling blocks while starting their garden: no money, no tools, no seeds, no lumber for raised beds, and even worse – no water. The community had to run water from across the street to garden the few plants they had. Any “no” you can think of, Rosie and her neighbors heard it.

One day, Rosie heard about a small grant being offered by Operation Bright Side (OBS). She worked with Mary Lou Green (of OBS) to apply, and they got the grant! Now, the garden could really get started, and it did! Rosie and her neighbors purchased gardening tools and flower bulbs to start beautifying the space. A local lumber company in the neighborhood agreed to sell them $435 dollars worth of lumber for $130, and even when the gardeners couldn’t pay the bill, he brought the lumber anyway, cut and ready to build 19 raised garden beds! And through it all, Rosie kept emailing her Alderwoman, keeping her up to date on the obstacles and successes of the neighborhood gardeners. The Alderwoman listened, and rewarded their persistence by approving funding not only for the one lot Rosie and her neighbors had begun gardening on, but also to expand the space onto another six lots on the same block!

Over time, Rosie and her neighbors have worked hard and worked magic in their new garden: The Fresh Starts Community Garden. They transformed it from a wasteland of trash, weeds, tall grasses and drug needles to being awarded the Best Community Hang-Out Garden by Gateway Greening. Today, they are blessed with great local support and even volunteer help from all over the country. Next year, they’ll celebrate the gardens 9th birthday! Where has the time gone?

Story by Rosie Willis – Fresh Starts Community Garden Leader

Growing Community at Central Reform Congregation Community Garden, and Beyond

Welcome to Central Reform Congregation Community Garden

One of the fundamental goals of the Central Reform Congregation (CRC) is to strengthen the bonds of our community through communication and participation, while continuing our work of Tikkun Olam — the repair of the world. Our landscape includes an area we call “Common Ground,” located at the northeast corner of the property, a circular area of paving stones intended to welcome members of the surrounding community, in this diverse urban setting. In this garden space, we have placed a public sculpture as a landmark where the community is welcome to gather for marches, candlelight vigils, or prayer services.

We have added 4 raised beds this spring to grow food and donate it to the local food pantry. We are building community with the gardens in the area, including the garden at Next Door and the Central West End farm, with the desire to build a thriving network. One day, we would love for the folks who use the food pantry to take over the gardening and maybe open a garden store for them to sell food and goods.

-Ben Fox, Garden Leader

Learning in the Central Reform Congregation Community Garden

I moved to St. Louis from Jackson, Mississippi hoping the weather would be cooler and less humid. I was wrong. And now, instead of working in an air conditioned office, my daily work life has changed dramatically. I moved to St. Louis at the end of July to work for The Amir Project, an organization that teaches young adults to run educational gardens at summer camps. In St. Louis though, Amir began a year-round initiative aiming to work with local community gardens in the hopes of providing support. More specifically, I work with the Garden of Eden at the JCC in Creve Coeur, the Central West End Farm, the Central Reform Congregation Community Garden, the Next Door garden, and the Transgender Memorial Garden.

Through each garden, I’ve met people and made friends who have each taught me something unique, which made me realize how truly innovative the garden classroom is. At the Central West End Farm, under the tutelage of Arthur Culbert, I not only learned interesting things about plants and veggies, but also how to sustain a gift-garden. I learned to infuse vinegar with herbs, package the product, and sell it to community members, which ultimately brings money back to the garden for seed and seedling money. I know these are skills I will take with me moving forward. I am grateful that even though air conditioning is comfortable, that I got out of the office setting and into the garden setting. Gardening in St. Louis very quickly introduced me to the folks of the city, and I was able to meet and befriend people of all ages.

-Arielle Nissenblatt

From Trash to Treasure

From trash to treasure; that is what I would call our garden. We say that because our garden is not in the typical place where one would normally find a garden; it’s smack dab in the middle of the inner-city. In an area that is known for its crime but nevertheless it has become a rose sprouting from concrete.

We were sought out by an organization to start this garden ten or more years ago; and because we were weary with the vacant lot that sat next to our home being an “eye sore” we agreed. Maybe it was in our blood because my grandmother ran and looked after an award-winning garden in her time that was just about the length of an entire city block.  But we were compelled because the lot was covered with trash & drug paraphernalia and because it was convenient. The lot sat right across from our home.

Fast forward and here we are today, in a thriving garden that has become a blessing and treasure to our community. It has provided produce faithfully every year. The garden has received the “Malcolm Flower Bed Award” for the heirloom plant. Impressively, it has within it a “butterfly garden” that has attracted monarch butterflies; which are as of today almost considered extinct. The garden has also attracted volunteers from local colleges and people from all over the nation to help; who without their faithfulness we would not have been able to maintain the garden alone.

Our passion surrounding the garden is two-fold; one, to educate people of the health benefits of gardening and two, to beautify the community. We want others to experience what it’s like to eat produce that’s organic and free of pesticides. It has really been a joy.

Fountain Park Community Garden Leaders Ernest and Connie Wess’ story, written by niece Daphney Jackson

A Place of Respite, A Place to Connect

In 2010 a group of neighbors began our community garden with organizational support from Gateway Greening and with financial support from Park Central Development, from the West Pine-Laclede Neighborhood Association, and from the Manhattan Townhouse Association.   Over the ensuing years, the Boyle-Laclede Garden has grown and improved with input from local gardeners, residents, neighborhood associations, and local craftsmen.   Among the additions are a communal herb garden, fruit trees, grape vines, a compost bin, as well as a pergola and picnic table – the sum of which is an incredible asset to the neighborhood, aesthetically and socially.  

I became involved four years ago and learned that a garden is so much more than just a place to raise vegetables. It is a place to connect with other gardeners, with neighbors who share our passion, and with passers-by.  People love to check out our garden and start conversations with the people who tend it.  What a great way to get to know your neighbors!  One day a woman came and sat on our bench facing the roses and the vegetable beds.  She told me that this was her place of peace and she would come whenever she could while her husband was being treated at Siteman Cancer Center.   Another day a group of boy scouts stopped to help turn the compost bin.

We are far from experts or master gardeners.  We are just people who love the concept of growing our own food while building community and improving our neighborhoods.  As gardeners we share our frustrations and successes with each other and we learn together about best practices in organic gardening.  We learn from our challenges and, hopefully, get a little better each year.

-Diana Gualdoni, Garden Leader at the Boyle-Laclede Garden

A Green Oasis Nestled in the Urban Landscape

Opening in 1991, Fox Park Farm (FPF) is one of the oldest continuously operating community gardens in the St. Louis area.  It was founded and maintained for many years by longtime neighborhood resident, Jim Hogan.  Funding was initially provided through the “Weed and Seed” anticrime program.  Over the years FPF has also benefited greatly from the guidance and generosity of Gateway Greening.  The project originally consisted of two very different sites.

Morning Glory Garden, like Fox Park Farm, was situated on three city owned, abandoned corner lots at the intersection of Russell and California in the Fox Park neighborhood.  The Garden was a contemplative area planted with trees, shrubs, and flowers of many types.  Short walk ways and benches were scattered about.  It was a refuge for birds, bees, butterflies and people.  The Farm, just across the street, was dedicated largely to vegetable gardening.  Both had great potential to be welcome assets to a neighborhood faced with numerous urban challenges.

As with all community gardens, FPF grew and matured in fits and starts. Initially, many of the Farmers had limited knowledge of gardening and lacked group cohesion.  A few Farmers tended their own plots meticulously, while the bulk were satisfied to plant a tomato or two and hope something might grow.  Little attention was paid to the overall maintenance of the Farm.  Over time, weeds far outnumbered the planted crops.  The same neglect affected the Garden.  At their worst, the Farm and the Garden became weed covered eyesores.  Rather than adding to the health and beauty of the neighborhood, they nearly reverted to their previously abandoned lot status.

Slowly, however, a small and steadily growing group of dedicated Farmers joined together to save the Farm.  They sensed that FPF could play a major role in the ongoing revitalization of the neighborhood.  The Farmers developed a bond among themselves and the surrounding neighborhood.  Greater and greater numbers of Farmers began to pitch in to improve the quality of their plots, as well as the common maintenance of the Farm as a whole.  Weeds were pulled, grass was mowed, and the appearance of the Farm slowly, but noticeably improved.

Early success, however, nearly precipitated calamity.  Once the promise of these once abandoned lots became apparent, real estate developers took notice.  Politicians, valuing new tax- paying projects, were enticed to allow destruction of the green space, even though ample abandoned lots were available throughout the neighborhood.  In 2004, Morning Glory Garden was razed for townhomes and FPF was clearly threatened with the same fate.  The Farmers, however, were determined to demonstrate that the benefits of a community garden far outweighed those of additional development.  

The Farmers redoubled their efforts to maintain and improve FPF.  A sense of dedication to the Farm and the neighborhood invigorated them to save the Farm.  They worked to enhance the quality and quantity of food produced from the 30 plus plots.  They removed a grove of “weed trees,” created a community herb garden, built three large wooden compost bins, planted a blueberry patch, and installed pollinator, butterfly and hummingbird gardens filled with a variety of native plants.  Over many years, the perimeter was filled with plants donated from the Great Perennial Divide and salvaged from Morning Glory Garden.

On the political front, Farmers working with the neighborhood association, actively courted city officials, touting the benefits of a successful urban farm to the vitality of the entire neighborhood.  Through their efforts they won the support of their Alderman Christine Ingrassia.  Rather than threatening to eliminate the Farm she has become a strong supporter and secured financing to replace the cracking sidewalk around the Farm, further enhancing the appearance of the Farm.  

Today, Fox Park Farm is a center piece of the Fox Park neighborhood.  It is a green oasis nestled in the urban landscape.  The Farmers harvest impressive quantities of nutritious food for their families and frequently socialize on the Farm patio.  It is what a successful community garden should be and is an integral part of the community it serves.  It is successful because a dedicated core of neighbors, for many years, have been willing to work together to make their neighborhood a great place to live for themselves and their families.  It has been well worth the effort.  Like many other community gardens it has made St. Louis a better place to live.

-Terry Lueckenhoff, Garden Leader at Fox Park Farm

She Was Scared of Bugs When She Started

I have a new gardener at the House of Living Stone Community Garden, who is so enthusiastic about her new experience in gardening.  She had never done this before but she has been so successful.  She was scared of worms and bugs when she started, she didn’t like dirt, but now all of the fear is gone and she is having a blast.  She gets so excited about seeing a yellow blossom turn into a cucumber and being able to produce a 5-pound head of cabbage.   She was able to share her beautiful heads of iceberg lettuce with all of her co-workers for healthy lunch salads.  She is a caregiver for children at a daycare center and she sometimes brings them to the garden to show them how things grow.

As a garden leader, she has been such an uplifting experience for me.  I just enjoy watching her get so excited when she sees her seeds turn into plants and then she gets to harvest her produce.  This garden has helped her in her unhealthy eating habits that she was into before she started gardening.  Her enthusiasm is rubbing off on some of the other gardeners.  She also got into our art project for the garden and has taken it to a new level.  We are truly enjoying our new art space and the stories that are being told by each piece of artwork.

Written by Florida Cargill, Garden Leader at House of Living Stone Community Garden

Discover more stories from St. Louis school and community gardens in the Gateway Greening Storybook.