Menu

Community project: How does your garden grow?

TCU helps plant seeds of change in new community garden.

Community project: How does your garden grow?

FOOD FOR THOUGHT Jeannine Gailey, assistant professor of sociology, poses by her garden plot in the Fairmount Community Garden in Fort Worth.

Community project: How does your garden grow?

TCU helps plant seeds of change in new community garden.

A renewed spirit of community has taken root in Fort Worth’s Fairmount neighborhood.

So has a bumper crop of squash and tomatoes.

It’s all part of a new community garden project championed by Andrew Schoolmaster, dean of the AddRan College of Liberal Arts, that has finally come to fruition — thanks to the efforts of city officials, students who helped build the plots and faculty and residents who live in the historic neighborhood just south of downtown.

Schoolmaster, who also serves as director of TCU’s Institute for Urban Living and Innovation, says the garden is a living laboratory that can accomplish two societal needs — sustainability and community renewal.

“It really kills two birds with one stone,” he says. “The idea of sustainability — growing food closer to home reduces the carbon footprint — and getting neighbors to talk to each other, to get to know each other.”

Finding the right spot took lengthy negotiations with the city of Fort Worth, which finally approved use of an odd-shaped lot adjacent to a neighborhood park. The garden includes 74 plots, each about 4-feet by 8-feet, that can be leased by neighborhood residents for a small annual fee for water and overall maintenance.

TCU ROTC cadets helped clear the lot for the garden, and students enrolled in the spring semester class “Environmental Justice, Human Rights and Agriculture” completed service-learning projects related to the garden.

“One group focused on the physical work of getting the trees pulled, mulch laid, plots set out, etc.,” says David Aftandilian, assistant professor of anthropology who taught the course. “The other group did some physical work, but focused more on publicizing the garden to local residents. They also developed a “how to” guide for other communities in Fort Worth who might like to start their own community gardens, and a cookbook to help promote healthy eating using the vegetables grown in the garden.”

Married professors Jeannine Gailey, assistant professor of sociology, and Greg Hestir, associate professor of philosophy, are among Fairmount residents tilling the soil. Gailey, says her husband is the avid gardener and she’s just learning.

“The squash has been huge,” she says. “I’ve been eating it fresh in salads.”

In addition to cultivating vegetables, fruits and flowers, she says the garden also helped cultivate new friendships among residents, just as Schoolmaster had hoped.

“We’re meeting people we might not have otherwise met,” Gailey says. “Everyone’s been willing to share, giving away plants, trading seeds, and taking care of each others’ plants while they’re out of town.

“We already had a strong community, but this had made it even stronger,” she says.

Comment at tcumagazine@tcu.edu.

Your comments are welcome

Comments

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.