Community gardens, a growing trend

A BRIGHTLY PAINTED skeleton of a sun umbrella stands in Andy Friedman and Barbara Schaefer’s garden plot in Pungo .

Bean vines are being trained on string to grow from the ground up and twine around the umbrella spokes – a bean pole of sorts.

Other whimsical touches dot the paths , vegetables and flowers on the 20-by-20-foot plot of land that the couple rents for $400 a season. Several times a week, Friedman and Schaefer travel 25 minutes from their home on Broad Bay Island in Virginia Beach to plant, weed and enjoy their “great little spot in the country,” as Friedman calls it.

Theirs is one of 13 organic garden plots at Pungo Naturals Farm at 1813 Gum Bridge Road. Owners Linda and Kevin Sullivan not only rent plots but also grow organic produce for Community Supported Agriculture baskets.

Spurred on by trends across the country , including Buy Fresh Buy Local and the Slow Food movements, along with symbols like Michelle Obama’s vegetable garden at the White House, Pungo Naturals and several other community gardens of sorts have sprouted in the area this year.

The economy’s downtown, a desire to reduce one’s carbon footprint to protect the environment, concern for food safety, and cravings for tasty fresh food drive folks to pick up hoes and work the earth themselves.

Food safety is one of the aspects important to Schaefer.

“I do think people should be aware of where their food comes from,” she said.

That was one of many reasons that Virginia Beach Horticulture Extension agent Susan French urged the

Virginia Beach Master Gardeners to plant a demonstration vegetable garden at the Virginia Beach Farmers Market in Virginia Beach.

“Last year, I was inundated with calls from individuals seeking information on vegetable gardens,” French said.

People were not only interested in food safety, she said, but they also wanted to save money. Many had a heightened environmental awareness, and almost everybody was interested in providing good, nutritious food for their families.

So the Virginia Beach Master Gardeners designed their veggie garden behind the market to be a resource for home gardeners. They’re growing several varieties of each vegetable, and everything they do is documented and recorded and on display at the Farmers Market.

As varied as the veggies

Whether a rent-a-plot garden or a community garden, a demonstration garden or one grown by volunteers to help people in need, vegetable gardens are becoming more than just a great source of food.

Early on, no one took time to think that while gardens provide food for the stomach, they also provide food for the soul. Gardens can be healing. They add beauty to neighborhoods and provide camaraderie and a sense of community.

Friedman and Schaefer enjoy camaraderie with other plot owners who appreciate organic food. The couple enjoy working at the garden in the evening, staying down “on the farm” until the sun goes down.

“The sunsets are beautiful,” Schaefer said.

One recent evening, Pungo Naturals held the first of what it hopes to be continuing wine and cheese events in the garden .

Back in the heart of Norfolk, evenings in a garden at Barrett Transitional Home in the Broad Creek neighborhood also are a relaxing social event during which residents gather to work in the garden and harvest the fruits of their labor.

The home is a sanctuary for single and single pregnant women in need of a place to live. The garden offers yet another refuge for them, said Frances Clarkson , the facility’s executive director.

“It’s beneficial to have our own vegetables, but it’s a wonderful, peaceful place to relax,” she added. “There is something therapeutic about working in a garden.”

The garden has been responsible for creating some connections with neighbors. Folks walking down the street stop to look and talk about the garden, which also features a colorful array of flowers. Clarkson hopes that as residents see what can be done in the middle of the city, more gardens will pop up.

Jill Mumie was working at The Boot Restaurant on 21st Street in Norfolk last spring when the eatery’s owners, David Hausmann and Joshua Wright , and their employees decided to take on a community project. Mumie proposed a garden at the Barrett home.

With monetary contributions from The Boot staff, Mumie and residents of the home tilled the land, planted the seeds and now tend to the vegetables and flowers in the 600-square-foot plot. The flowers, including marigolds and cosmos, decorate the dining tables at The Boot, and residents dine on fresh vegetables for dinner.

“If it is homegrown and you did it with your own hands,” Clarkson said, “you can’t ask for anything better or more economical.”