Siobhan Walsh: Gardens feed us, teach us
Siobhan Walsh
San Antonio Express-News
Apr 20, 2009
What do Michelle Obama and local architect and green activist Tenna Florian have in common? They are changing the landscape of their respective communities by planting gardens.
While the First Lady has broken ground in the backyard of the White House, Florian is at work in her own community garden growing not far from her Beacon Hill home, which she shares with her husband and fellow Lake/Flato architect Bill Aylor.
The garden features native plants, wildflowers, a butterfly garden and, of course, a variety of vegetables. There also is a water-saving rain collection pavilion.
The broccoli, cabbage and greens that were planted earlier by Florian and others who till the shared soil have already been harvested. Vine-ripened tomatoes, earthy potatoes and peppers will be ready as summer arrives.
Florian and her fellow gardeners share the work, joy and bounty of the Beacon Hill garden, pursue the project as a labor of neighborly love. They have more than fresh produce in mind.
"When you make your neighborhood pretty it teaches kids to have pride so they don't grow up putting graffiti on the wall," she said. "The garden gives kids a sense of ownership in their neighborhood, and anyone can come in and pick as many vegetables as they want if they work on the garden."
Community gardens, their backers believe, raise the self-esteem of inner-city neighborhoods where poverty is a fact of life, and help instill pride in people who otherwise might see their neighborhoods in decline and as places without hope.
Florian recalls a Christmas party the gardeners organized that attracted three neighborhood children who came without their parents. The children helped themselves to brisket and potato salad, but ignored a spinach salad made with freshly harvested greens.
"When I reminded them it was spinach from the community garden they went back, piled up the spinach on their plates, and then ate most of it," she said, suggesting even in a fast-food culture, dietary habits can be positively influenced.
There are fewer than two dozen such community gardens now abloom in San Antonio, but that could change fast as the Green Spaces Alliance of South Texas funds an ambitious five-year program to locate new community gardens in virtually every willing corner of the city.
The Beacon Hill garden was established in September of 2008, thanks to a $7,000 grant from the Green Spaces Alliance (http://www.greenspacesalliance.org/).
"Before then, there was nothing to see there because it was a weed-strewn lot," said Julie Koppenheffer, executive director of the Green Spaces Alliance. "The gardens are designed to connect the community with nature and each other. It is a healthy outlet to get people outside."
The Alliance's goal is to establish 50 gardens in five years; Koppenheffer believes that goal will be met in three years.
"We have up to 19 now and approximately 30 are clamoring for assistance and a lot of people wanting to collaborate and partner with us," she said.
In a city where so many are limited in their resources to buy food and children are eating unbalanced diets, shouldn't everyone be at work in a community garden?
Siobhan Walsh is a registered dietitian. Her Smart Choices column appears every other Monday in S.A. Life. siobhanrd@yahoo.com.