Victory: Community Garden in Kannapolis a Prototype for Gardens to Come

Families rent space at First Wesleyan community garden.

It’s not a Victory Garden like the ones our parents and grandparents and great-grandparents planted during World War II. But it is clearly a victory. A victory for the environment. A victory for the community. A victory for everyone who is eating healthy, homegrown produce from the community garden at First Wesleyan Church in Kannapolis.

This is an example of what vibrant partnerships, solid commitment and a little dirt under the fingernails can produce. The Kannapolis Environmental Stewardship Commission spawned the idea, and First Wesleyan, under the pastorship of the Rev. James Matchette, agreed to provide the land and water. Commission member Steve Whaley was the critical link between the commission and the church, where he is a member.

In no time Jeremy Ford, commission chair, motored his tractor – powered by home-brewed biofuel, no less – to the plot, and he and organic farmer Brian Hinkley tilled an 80-by-180-foot garden.

Thirty families rented plots, and Hinkley, owner of Cold Water Creek Farms in Concord, provided plants that he had grown from seed and guidance in organic-gardening techniques. “We are trying to minimize the footprint of the garden by not using fertilizers and chemicals,” says Ford.

The result? Tomatoes and peppers and melons, to be sure, but just as important, a sense of community, a commitment to environmentally friendly practices and healthy eating habits, and an extended hand to those in need. Produce grown on plots tended by the church and by Hinkley is donated to people in need.

Hinkley also serves as the resident teacher. He gives classes on tending the garden and offers advice on how to rid plants of pesky caterpillars and Mexican bean beetles without harming the environment or the people who eat the produce. “I do things that are sustainable,” he says. “I’m going to be passing on something better to my son than I was given.”

Matchette says he finds more positives in this project every week: “We had so many people sign up to mentor their own son or daughter or grandchild, like a grandparent and grandchild who put a sign on their plot saying, ‘This is Grandpa’s and Bill’s plot.’ I didn’t see that coming.”

The sense of community has been a happy byproduct of the project. “We were all strangers when we first started,” Matchette says, “but now many of us know each others’ names, and we work side by side and share plants and tips and ideas with one another. We may not be able to completely reclaim the sense of community that was prevalent in the past, but to have a little plot of earth where we gather from time to time and are able to do that is a bright spot.”

Renee Goodnight, community outreach coordinator for the City of Kannapolis and staff liaison for the project, formed a watering cooperative with other families so they all wouldn’t have to drive to the garden for that task. “I thought, ‘Why should we all go out there and use fossil fuel?’” she says. “That’s part of the community building.” It’s also part of the commitment to the environment.

Commission member Lisa Canada points out the importance of nutritional, local produce. “I feel that it is important for my kids to know where food comes from, and I feel it’s a safer and more environmentally sound way of eating,” she says. “The important thing is to eat close to the earth and close to home.”

Buying strawberries, for example, that have traveled 2,500 or 3,000 miles to get to Kannapolis is not an option for Canada. The harmful exhaust from the trucks contributes to air pollution, and the use of vast quantities of fossil fuels to transport produce contributes to our oil dependence. She knows that growing her own vegetables improves air quality and takes an important step toward helping us become independent of foreign oil.

Ford sees this garden as a prototype for other community gardens in Kannapolis and elsewhere. Goodnight agrees: “It doesn’t have to be a church,” she says, “It could be a neighborhood group” that initiates the community project.

“I feel that this is the beginning of something much larger,” says Canada. “It won’t be too long before community gardens are a normal thing instead of extraordinary. That would be a great day.”