On North Hackett Avenue, between Belleview and Park Place sits St. Mark's Episcopal Church. In the back corner, past the parking lot, sits a small but lush garden space. Gardeners, Meg Edwards, Jane Shero, and Deacon Michelle Mooney are giving a tour of the space. “The space is about 20 years old. We took the turf out, brought sand in – it’s very clay-y here. Every year we would lay down mulch and compost, and now it grows a little bit of everything.”
Deacon Michelle Moonie has been serving St. Marcus since 2002, and led the building of the garden. “Creating this garden was a classic diaconal service. Helping people get together to do something in the community. This is an attempt to get people working together, get people to know each other, and now I’ve gotten caught up in it, too!”
Three out of the thirteen garden beds available in this space are dedicated to growing for donation. The three beds are flourishing with leeks, beets, tomatoes, kale, lettuce, peppers, beans, corn, and more. As we speak, Michelle starts looking at the corn next to us. “Meg says not yet!” Jane adds, “They’re not nearly brown enough.”
Jane wears a simple flannel and talks in detail, with love, about what’s growing. She has become a regular donor to Groundwork Milwaukee’s garden gleaning program using the Fresh Food Connect mobile app.
“Two – three years ago, I tried to take my excess produce to a local food pantry. It couldn’t seem to sync up – when they needed what I had. It was so frustrating. When I learned about Fresh Food Connect, it was a no brainer. I just have to do what I do best, which is grow, harvest, and put it on my front step. I’ve always understood the concept of sharing food and feeding others who are in need, but that phrase ‘food justice’ has really resonated with me. It’s short enough but complete enough to explain what you’re about. If you’re trying to give people justice by giving them the basics of what they need, that’s immediately understandable.”
These garden beds are stewarded by both new and experienced gardeners. Jane says, “I’ve been a vegetable gardener for forty years, and I’m pretty sure I would lose my marbles if I didn’t have my fingers in the dirt.”
Meg Edwards had been familiar with food pantries through volunteering with local food justice organization, The Gathering. “I never did vegetables before, but seeing what Jane and Michelle and all the gardeners do, it’s phenomenal. So with this year, it was like – I want to be part of that!”
These small beds have donated a collected 145 lbs of produce this summer, which has then been donated to the pantry shoppers of Solomon Community Temple and Interchange Food Pantry. A little love in a well tended garden can end up making a big difference.