Church garden in Dallas helps people grow in togetherness

By: Paul Schattenberg, 210-859-5752, paschattenberg@ag.tamu.edu

Contacts: Stephen Hudkins, 214-952-0619,  Stephen.hudkins@ag.tamu.edu

Jeff Raska, 214-904-3050, jwraska@ag.tamu.edu

Rev. Anthony Nolan, 214-288-0566, abnolan@sbcglobal.net

Lisa Patterson, lisaapatterson@att.net

DALLAS – More than plants have taken root in the raised beds situated behind Paradise Missionary Baptist Church.

Along with the vegetables in the community garden at this house of worship in the Oak Cliff area of south Dallas, a sense of fellowship and goodwill is growing in a city recently rocked by tragedy and discord.

This spring, church leaders, congregants and employees of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service worked together to construct 20 raised-bed garden plots, fill them with soil and plant a variety of vegetables. Each plot was “adopted” by a church member responsible for its upkeep.

“We found out about the desire to establish a community garden at the church from Rev. Anthony Nolan himself when he attended one of our programs about establishing a school garden program at Harry Stone Elementary in south Dallas,” said Stephen Hudkins, AgriLife Extension agent for horticulture, Dallas County. “He asked if it would be possible to put in a community garden at his church, and we told him it would. Later that same day, we went to the church and started discussing how we might set it up. Very soon after that, we were building the garden.”

Hudkins and Jeff Raska, AgriLife Extension 4-H and Better Living for Texans program assistant for Dallas County, helped Nolan and participating church members determine precisely what materials would be needed for constructing the raised beds. They then helped build them and install the drip irrigation needed to water the plants.

The church also received help from the Prairie View A&M University and state Rep. Toni Rose, who represents Texas House District 110 — the district in which the church is located.

“Marvin Young, who is a family and consumer science agent for Prairie View’s Cooperative Extension  Program, contacted Rep. Rose’s office,” Raska explained. “Then we met with Rep. Rose and her staff. They said they would support our efforts and help us get the materials we needed for the garden build.”

Raska said Nolan told him his vision for the garden included adult and youth instruction on nutrition, food preparation, meal planning and food storage safety.

“From the start, Rev. Nolan made it a point the garden would be more than just a place to grow vegetables,” Hudkins said. “He said he wanted it to be a ‘rallying point’ for the community… a place where people could not only tend and take harvest from the garden but informally discuss what’s happening in the world. Sort of like meeting in the garden instead of at the water cooler to talk about local and world events.”

Nolan said he also wanted to create the garden to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the church.

“I wanted to do something special to mark that anniversary,” said Nolan, who has been pastor at the church for 17 years. “At first, I thought about just having a church garden. Then I thought we should have a community garden. We have a lot of gardeners in our congregations and many have their own gardens, so it was a good fit.”

Nolan said when people ask him why he decided to build a community garden, he responds, “You can’t see the choir from the street, but you can see the garden.”

“We wanted it to be an informal community meeting place where people could discuss things that are important to them,” he said. “The garden is a draw for people, and most of the recent connections I have made with residents of the community have been through the garden.”

Nolan said the garden not only draws in residents of the community, it works in partnership with local schools.

“Kids from two of the local elementary schools come here to help us with the garden, and the garden serves as a way to educate them about nutrition and responsibility,” he said.

Nolan said the garden will also serve as a place for elected officials and community leaders to visit so they can learn what’s on the minds of the people they represent.

“We plan to have a dedication in the garden for the spring and fall plantings and to invite elected officials and community leaders so they can have informal discussions with our church members and other area residents,” he said.

Nolan said while the congregants who tend the gardens have “first dibs” on the produce, each Wednesday night his Cutlery Team prepares salads for church members using the vegetables grown there.

“It’s our way of sharing the fruits of our labor,” he said.

Nolan also said participating congregants meet each Saturday with Lisa Patterson, a Dallas County Master Gardener since 2012 now working on her vegetable specialist certification, to discuss garden care and when to harvest and plant.

“We just had our first harvest and that was a wonderful feeling,” Patterson said. “We were blessed and had a really good harvest of tomatoes, peppers, squash, eggplant, cucumbers, melons, mustard greens and okra. It was a great feeling being able to use God’s earth for something positive, and to meet these people and share my knowledge with them.”

Nolan said Patterson and church members are now in the process of deciding what vegetables they should plant for the fall.

“Now more than ever, we need places like this garden where people can meet, work together and get to know one another,” Nolan said. “There’s a lot more going on here than just gardening.”