As she kneeled in front of a freshly plowed dark brown patch of dirt surrounded by a wooden fence in Reserve Park, Kimberly Brown smiled at her daughter Bella.
“Do you remember what I told you? How are the roots? “Brown said, picking up an herb to show the 7-year-old.” It’s the plant’s blood vessel, you see, because that’s how our blood vessel is inside. It’s a system – that’s how you get your water. “
The 30-year-old Gainesville resident is one of more than 60 members of the Gainesville Black Garden Network, a Facebook group where Black residents share their gardening experiences. The group is working on a piece of land in one of several community gardens across town. These efforts are important to East Gainesville, where several neighborhoods are considered food deserts. Walmart is the only USDA-approved grocery store east of Main Street within the city limits.
Community gardens like the one at Reserve Park have been part of a citywide food security effort since the first garden was built in 1998. Each garden is equipped with a hose and a handful of land owned by other residents who have applied for the city. Property owners water others’ plants when they pass in the gardens. This is an unofficial rule to help keep plants growing.
Denisha Williamson-Walker, a 36-year-old Gainesville resident and founder of the Facebook group, said she never thought she would find a community of blacks who love to garden until she posted a question on Gainesville’s Facebook Word of Mouth ”group and asked if there were other black gardeners in town.
She received an overwhelming response and decided to create the city garden group so that the black residents can share photos and videos of the home gardens they were working on during the COVID-19 pandemic. The group has more than 60 members as of April 2nd and the community is growing every month.
For Williamson-Walker, gardening was a way to cultivate happiness while in quarantine with her wife and son.
Williamson-Walker said her intention to work on the property is to give black residents access to fresh food in the neighborhood.
“I like being in the dirt,” she said. “It’s calming and therapeutic. It keeps you on the ground. “
The Reserve Park property was donated to the group by Kelley Tomlin, a 33-year-old resident of East Gainesville. Tomlin applied for the property when the park opened last year. However, when she became pregnant with her daughter, she wanted to give the land to a good cause.
After meeting Williamson-Walker online, Tomlin was thrilled to donate the property to support Williamson-Walker’s goal of creating a space that could become a community food source for black residents in the surrounding neighborhood.
“She’s very inclusive and even invited me to take part in all of her activities,” said Tomlin. “It’s a very, very positive group.”
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Williamson-Walker came to conspiracy with Brown and her daughter Monday afternoon to not only grow a variety of fruits, herbs, and vegetables, but also a community. The couple host events for black residents to share their love of horticulture together. Prior to Monday’s meeting, the group had a seed swap where members swapped plant seeds for their home gardens.
Brown began gardening with her daughter at the beginning of the pandemic, mostly with growing collards, a member of the cabbage family. A little over a year ago, she helped Bella tend a strawberry plant that is now bearing unripe strawberries.
As a licensed clinical social worker with Kimberly Kares Counseling, Brown’s private counseling practice, she frequently recommends gardening to her patients. She believes that by loving a plant, you can learn to love yourself.
“I always tell my clients who have problems with self-esteem and depression to get a plant and name it after themselves,” she said. “Then you water yourself and grow with you.”
The group hopes to expand its online space further.
Nate Porter, a 32-year-old East Gainesville resident who is new to the Facebook group, said growing up tending his grandfather’s garden made life hindering his own life as an adult.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Porter found time and began using his garden and other green spaces around his home to plant crops like peppers and peanuts.
It is an activity in which he brings his two children and his wife to bond with the family. Each family member plants the crops they love most. He said he was putting in as many hours as possible to keep it going.
“It’s my diffuser. It’s my therapy, ”he said. “If I’m frustrated after a long night at work, I sit there the next morning and have my coffee. I go through the harvest, play with them and plant a few things. It’s just a relief. “
Ultimately, in the midst of the COVID-19 chaos, the food service employee found a feeling of peace in his home garden – and he is not alone.
Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @AlanHalaly.
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Alan Halaly
Alan Halaly is a freshman journalist and Spanish major and the East Gainesville Beat Reporter. This is his second semester in the workforce, and he previously worked as a news assistant at the Metro desk. He is excited to use this semester to spotlight underserved communities in Gainesville.
