Nourishing A Whole Community: Project Legacy & The Community Garden
When you think about it, community gardens are worthy metaphors for the work Project Legacy does. They take time and daily attention, but when properly cared for, what they produce can nourish a whole community.
When we were approached by Kelly Rae Kirkpatrick to partake in the MLK Community Food and Learning Garden (MLKCFLG), we gladly partnered alongside the other organizations in this work.
“Project Legacy is an important partner on the gardens because growing your own food is a privilege afforded only to those with land access,” says Kelly Rae Kirkpatrick, Olmsted County Extension master gardener and master water steward of Rochester. “Project Legacy youth may not have been exposed to this activity while growing up due to systemic poverty and racism which keeps many from home ownership - the one thing that can provide land to an individual to grow their own food.”
The project, as outlined by Kirkpatrick, increases food access in a low-income, low access neighborhood that has 51% HUD housing. Due to small lot sizes and homes with detached garages there is less space to garden on private lots. The plot in MLK Park is in the light from sunrise to sunset.
On Friday, June 12, a massive pile of compost sat in the parking lot of MLK Park. A garden plot had been mapped out a few dozen feet away. Throughout the morning and afternoon, Project Legacy youth, volunteers, and others from the community shoveled, wheel-barrowed, and spread the rich soil across the ground. The next day, they returned to plant seeds. The work was enriching, if not somewhat exhausting.
“It was a great experience, because we were a demonstration to our community on how we can come together as one while working on something great that will also have a great outcome,” says Abol Barnaba.
The end result is a garden meant to give neighborhood residents, park visitors, and students a place to grow and harvest food. It is available at no cost to those who wish to use it and functions as a space to educate the community on horticulture, nutrition, water conservation, and civic responsibility.
“Growing one’s own food is the original act of empowerment. Being able to feed oneself is a human right,” says Kirkpatrick.
Her statement echos a thought Elijah Norris expressed while setting up emergency food supply lines in his St. Paul community after riots earlier this summer.
“Health is wealth,” he said. “Besides police brutality, the leading cause of death in the black community is cardiovascular. And we need to shed light on that, and really start paying attention at what we put into our body so that we can make sure that our minds are strong, our hearts are strong, and our capacity remains strong.”
The garden’s benefits extend past bodily health; they are a way to see our efforts benefit the people living around us. Project Legacy executive director Karen Light Edmonds drove by the gardens last week after moving out of our old offices; a sad task. On Facebook, she wrote:
“I was feeling kind of sad after spending time moving out of our offices at the Empowerment Center today so I decided to stop and check on our garden at MLK Park before heading home. Looking at this beautiful garden that WE created made me feel much better!”
Our partners in this endeavor included Rochester Parks and Rec, Rochester Public Works, Rochester Public Library Bookmobile, Rochester Public Library Seed Library, Olmsted County Public Health & SHIP, Olmsted County Soil and Water Conservation District, UMN Olmsted County Extension Master Gardeners, UMN Olmsted County Extension SNAP-Ed, RNeighbors, Boys & Girls Club Rochester, Plant a Seed, Seed Savers Exchange, Eastside Neighborhood Association, Shell Gas Station, and the RCTC Horticulture Program. We thank them for including us, and for providing the materials and knowledge necessary to bring this garden to fruition.
Bryan Lund is a writer, ghostwriter, and teacher from Rochester, Minnesota. He started a writer’s workshop for Project Legacy last summer and continues to tutor and volunteer in other capacities.