By Emily Frost, Events and Garden Leader Coordinator
Reuben Gregory has a big heart and a green thumb. For the past year and a half, he has served as the garden leader at the Golfer’s Way Community Garden. Golfer’s Way is an apartment complex managed by Northeast Denver Housing, providing permanent housing for about 40 individuals with special needs who have previously been homeless. This community employs a model that aims to support residents as they work toward self-sufficiency. Reuben works as a case manager for the residents, which includes managing the food pantry on site, as well as working the land in the beds out back.
When Reuben first learned there was a garden on site a year and a half ago, he wasted no time getting started. DUG was able to connect Reuben to free transplants midway through the growing season. As Reuben spent time out in the garden, residents would stop by to watch and express concern that he was “wasting his time.” Their doubt was well founded. Many of the residents at Golfer’s Way had seen well-intentioned people come and go from the garden, but nobody- and thus, no garden- ever lasted more than a season. In a community of people accustomed to transience as a means of survival, with only occasional funding in a tough economy to support consistent case managers, having a garden be the responsibility of only one individual could have meant failure from the start. But Reuben had a different vision, and so he kept showing up.
Understandably skeptical residents would come, watch, and doubt- yet as they were doing so, they were getting to know Reuben better and sharing more about themselves. One man commented that though he had grown up on a farm, it had been thirty-some years since he had gardened. He was invited to pick up a trowel. There were moments of neighbors reminiscing about favorite meals. As the weeds were slowly but surely replaced with tomatoes, peppers, and marigolds, a garden began to take shape. The little plot of land behind the building where the veggies grew became a focal point and a gathering place for residents to engage and foster relationships with their neighbors. By the end of the season, a handful of residents had even begun to take part in caring for the space.
This season, Reuben has had consistent help from about five residents who have taken such ownership over the garden, they will have the opportunity to maintain personal plots next year. The gardeners who currently care for the space appreciate that the produce is communal and have noted that there’s plenty to go around and be shared, so they welcome their neighbors helping themselves. Next season, there will still be significant communal space that will grow produce for any resident who wants it. These communal areas will also continue to provide fresh produce to supplement the food bank for residents. The veggies that go the quickest? Collards, potatoes, and carrots, all of which will be planted in abundance next spring.
Reuben’s next project involves working to bring new life to another Northeast Denver Housing community garden, located at 30th and Lafayette. His commitment to consistently showing up and inviting folks to partake in whatever ways they feel comfortable reflects DUG’s belief that community gardens are most successful when individuals come together to take ownership of a space, and in so doing the fruits that inevitably grow there.
Click here to learn more about our Free Seeds & Transplants Program that helped Golfers’ Way Community Garden, and how you may receive free seeds and plants.
