The supermarket is not the only place you can get some fresh vegetables. In the heart of the Camden neighborhood in Salisbury, a local pastor has turned a vacant lot into a garden that serves a nearby residence with healthy food and activity.
Delmarva Public Media's Kevin Diaz has this portrait.
The Camden Community Garden is in the heart of the historic Camden neighborhood near downtown Salisbury. It's a racially and architecturally diverse area of Victorian homes, bungalows, and row houses. Amid the traffic and the bustle of its urban locale, the garden has become a focal point of the community since 2014 when soil was first broken in a vacant lot by Martin Hutchinson, who is a pastor of the nearby community of Joy Church.
“This is not just a garden, though it is a garden. It's got 20 beds and we're growing vegetables to give away to the neighborhood. But more than that, it's about community transformation.” said Hutchinson.
To Hutchinson, the garden is a platform for connecting disconnected neighbors and engaging children without enough to do, who might otherwise not know that food doesn't come from KFC and Taco Bell.
“This was a vacant city lot. It happens to be next to a playground, and one of the passions that I have is to teach children where food comes from and how to grow food. And so we were able to engage the children on the neighborhood- in the neighborhood, who were bored, in the process of tending vegetables, growing vegetables, picking vegetables, eating vegetables", he said.
By its second year, the garden was helping provide meals and activities through the school system, at least until the pandemic closed that down. But in the process, Hutchinson acquired a nearby boarded up and vacant house. It's since been turned into the new community center.
“This whole garden has made this vacant lot- once vacant lot, a destination for people in the neighborhood to come and connect with each other” , Hutchinson stated.
The raised beds surrounding us contain kale, collard greens, peppers, squash, green beans, tomatoes, mostly plants that can continue to be picked and harvested throughout the summer.
“We don't harvest for the community. The community comes and harvests for themselves.”
Today, Hutchinson is joined by members of the Princess Anne chapter of the Links Incorporated, a national sorority of professional black women. The chapter president, Chalarra Sessoms, lives nearby.
“I have volunteered in the garden, my husband and I, and I utilize the garden, and so I know that from Pastor Martin that it could use some support.” said Sessoms.
It's sunny and hot, but the sisters are focused on the weeding.
“I am a big advocate of volunteering and giving back and helping the community.”
That's Tina Reid, a professor of nursing at Salisbury University.
“What a great way to be able to provide healthy vegetables that people oftentimes can't afford. It's right here. It's accessible. They can walk right out of their back door, right to the garden. They don't have to worry about paying for it. The other part is some people don't even know about healthy eating anyway, and when they do, they can't afford it”, Reid explained.
“Getting it ready, planting some flower seeds in here. We're getting rid of all of the weeds.”
This is Kimberly Purvis, Dean of Student Success at Wor-Wic Community College.
“Fresh vegetables, you can't beat it. It's going to help the wellbeing of our children. Healthy living. So, always glad to be a part of that.
This is going to be beautiful. Yeah, this is going to be awesome.” said Purvis.
For Delmarva Public Media, I’m Kevin Diaz in Salisbury.
This audio story was transcribed using A.I., but was edited into web copy by a DPM staffer.
