Grow forth

Community garden germinated from seed of compassion

BY KERRY FIRTH

It started with a low-income retiree struggling to grow a garden behind a church parking lot. What has blossomed is a thriving community garden that provides fresh vegetables to about 1,000 people each week. A trustee from First United Methodist Church of Fort Pierce noticed the retiree wasn’t having much success and tried to help. One small act of kindness set everything in motion. 

“It all started with a little retired lady over there,” said Bernie McBee, pointing to the low-income Park Terrace high-rise behind the garden. “She was scratching around on the other side of the fence, and one of our church members asked what she was doing. She said she was trying to grow some collard greens. So, he went around and tried to help her, but they didn’t have a water source, so it didn’t work out. That’s when I got involved. I went to our church across the street — and asked for money for a well. We got it and built a well.”

That was three years ago. Today, the garden supplies fresh vegetables to Park Terrace high-rise residents, Sarah’s Kitchen, a Spanish-speaking congregation that meets in the Methodist church and, occasionally, Mustard Seed Ministries.

“This property belongs to the church and all we did was mow it,” McBee said. “So, we decided to grow something useful instead of grass.”

Of course, there were challenges. “The first time we planted collard greens, we came back, and they were eaten down to the ground by our neighboring peacocks. So, we installed cages around the plants to keep the peacocks out.” As he spoke, a striking blue peacock perched on the fence, watching the activity.

One of the garden’s integral volunteers is Carrie Vanderspool, a retired USDA employee from the Fort Pierce Experimental Station. “I’ve been growing plants for about 35 years,” she said. “During the Obama administration, the Feds Feed Families program encouraged federal employees to volunteer after hours to grow food for their communities. That’s where Bernie and I met. He would come every week and haul hundreds of pounds of food out the back door to feed people in need.”

Now, the garden is officially designated as a People’s Garden, meaning volunteers from the First Church of Ft. Pierce Community Garden can glean surplus crops to distribute along with its own harvests. “Whenever there’s a harvest, we pick what we can and distribute it,” McBee explained. “This year alone, we’ve collected about 2,000 pounds of tomatoes, over 200 pounds of green beans, and 200-plus pounds of yellow squash. We even have little tomatoes that people can throw into a salad without the hassle of chopping.”

First United Methodist Church of Fort Pierce also offers homeless individuals a chance to get a new look, on Saturdays. The garden complements this effort. “The homeless can get a shower, a haircut, a pedicure and a meal,” McBee said. “They can even get new underwear and gently used clothes. They go in looking scruffy and come out ready for a job interview.”

Vanderspool added, “We realized they come for a meal, but later, they have nothing. Since our focus is fresh food, we started handing out small bags of cherry tomatoes: something healthy they can keep in their pockets for later.”

All the garden’s produce is grown from seed, including tomatoes, peppers, collard greens, mustard greens, onions, radishes, sweet potatoes, pole beans and lettuce. This year, the organizers are experimenting with watermelons, cutting them up to share with the community. They tailor their crops to the people they serve. For instance, hot peppers go to the church that ministers to the Hispanic community, where the peppers are a staple in cooking.