“There are some people you’ll run into, now and again, that are like, ‘We have a farm?’” said junior Marek Wojtola. “So, I can understand how other people wouldn’t know that we have a community garden on campus.”
Wojtola, who works with a program called Hunger Fellows through Guilford’s Bonner Center, is familiar with Guilford’s sustainability department. There are many students who are aware of Guilford’s farm, but the not as many know of the community garden.
“It’s under the radar for many people,” said senior and garden manager Ruby Brinkerhoff on the subject of Guilford’s community garden.
Community gardening is a pastime for some people, and a way to get together and share knowledge and gardening space. Guilford’s community garden allows any individual or group to purchase a plot and use it for any purpose they wish. Some individuals may use their plots to garden as a pastime, but the plots can also be used to grow food to donate to the hungry. In fact many larger community gardens in Greensboro are used solely for that purpose: to bring good, nutritious food to people who otherwise wouldn’t have access to it.
“A lot of people in Greensboro don’t have food at all,” said Brinkerhoff.
Greensboro currently is rated second in the country for the highest rates of food insecurity. Fortunately, community gardening is an effective solution to this issue.
Many community gardens start with a group of at least three to five people who share a common need for gardening. Once a group and goal is established, planning and logistics, such as where the garden will be located and how the garden will be maintained, is established by the group.
Tinece Payne is the founder of one of Greensboro’s several community gardens, Stoney Hill Circle Community Garden. This garden operates to provide people access to nutritious food. Payne relies on volunteers to maintain the gardens and to package and deliver food for people in Greensboro in need of the fresh produce.
“We’ll take (the food) to other food pantries, to Greensboro Urban Ministry, to people on the street,” said Payne . “But there are a lot of people in homes that are hungry.”
While the Stoney Hill Garden volunteers are able to reach more of Greensboro’s population because they deliver to those presently in need, there are still many people who do not receive food.
“One of the things we are working on is assessing who needs the food,” said Payne. “We don’t have a set list. It’s first come, first serve, basically.”
Guilford’s community garden and Stoney Hill Circle fit with other local community gardens into a niche needed in Greensboro to bring access to all sorts of people with unique needs. These gardens are just two examples of ways in which community gardens can be used to meet the needs of a group.
“I would like to have a bank, like a food bank, eventually, once we get more people on hand, more volunteers on hand, so we can plant more,” said Payne. “I have land, but (I) need more people who can manage (it).”
Payne invites students to volunteer or even intern with the Stoney Hill garden, as having more volunteers could greatly strengthen the organization’s ability to deliver food to those without access.
“If everyone does a little something it could pan out to be something huge in the end, and that’s how miracles happen,” Payne said.
Interested students may visit VIYC.org and cobcollective.org for more information on volunteering with Stoney Hill Community Garden.
