How One Garden Cultivated an Entire Community

Henry and Ardis: The Green Rural Redevelopment Organization—GRRO for short—is revitalizing our community by converting empty lots in the middle of the city into micro-market farms. We are working to eliminate poverty by connecting our community with the land, job skills, fresh and healthy food, and each other.

Henry and Ardis: When we retired and moved home to Henderson from Chicago in 2008, we didn’t have a plan to become farmers. Our neighbor happened to have a backyard garden, and told us that she could do a lot with just a little bit more land. We had an empty lot next door that we opened up to her, and along with our friend Marion Brodie Williams and her sister Rosetta, we starting gardening there, too.

Ardis has said that, originally, she just wanted to grow some flowers. But it quickly became much more than that. We were bitten by the farm bug. One thing led to another, and after we started growing vegetables, we decided we also wanted to have aquaponics, set up beehives and begin composting. It caught on with the community, too. People were interested in what we were doing and wanted to be a part of it. From that community garden, many things grew.”

Henry and Ardis: With the help of the Resourceful Communities program and our partners, we transitioned to a micro-market farm. Resourceful Communities grants helped us purchase walk-behind tractors that allowed us to work in small spaces and we completed GAP (good agricultural practices) certification so that we can sell to school systems and restaurants. We realized that there are so many untapped opportunities for growing in small spaces.

Henry and Ardis: There were 150 blighted lots throughout our city, and we knew we could do more with them. We brought the city and the county government together to make some of those lots available for other micro-market farms. Now we have developed our demonstration micro-market farm into a farm school. Each farmer has one or two raised beds on our micro-farms, and we have partnered with the City and County to make five of the empty lots available to the students who are most successful at the end of the growing season. They have three years to develop the business before they have to pay taxes on that lot.

Henry and Ardis: We just keep learning. And we want to share what we know with others. We partner with agencies to offer classes in GAP certification, organic growing, growing in greenhouses, marketing and business planning, identifying fertilizers and much more. We help our students with crop preparation, give them seeds, and teach them to plan ahead and save seeds from crops so they can plant next year. These are all new farmers practicing new concepts in small areas. We’re helping them see how their relationship with the land can be a source of empowerment. They’re learning important job and entrepreneur skills and helping make healthy food available to their community.

Henry and Ardis: Henderson, as well as the entire Vance County area, is a food desert. We started with our Farm Own Garden Stand (“FOGS”), which is our walk-up, on-site stand that sells produce directly from our micro-market farm. This has made a big difference in giving community members an accessible place to buy healthy food, where they can also use SNAP/EBT [formerly known as food stamps] benefits. We are now the only USDA Organic Certified Farm in the county, offering more than 26 organic fruits and vegetables. 

And we’re thinking even bigger.

Henderson’s Downtown Development Commission came to us and asked if we would help participate in a farmers market, and in August 2016 we opened and served more than 440 customers (of whom 35% use SNAP/EBT). All our students can take their produce downtown to the farmers market to sell to the community, and local people can walk to the farmers market and use EBT and “double bucks” program to buy fresh, healthy food four days a week. It’s a win-win for everyone.

Henry and Ardis: We are really taking a holistic approach to supporting a vibrant Henderson. Access to healthy food, relationships with people and with the land, and tangible job skills—these are all important aspects of a happy, healthy community. We’re using land as the vehicle to create collective economic assets that allow people to have a greater say over their economic future, to empower them.

Henry and Ardis: None of us are at the stage in life where we need to do this for ourselves. It just needs to get done. We’ve seen so many positive changes in the community, from reduction of crime to an increase in civic activity, to people finally having access to healthy food. Not all the growth is happening in the gardens, it’s happening with people, too. To see the commitment of people, to see the young men walking past and hear them say how much they love the garden and volunteer to help, that is rewarding.

We’ve built some wonderful relationships, and we all work together. That’s really what it’s all about.