The new community garden at Riverside Park in Spruce Pine is making headway.
On Monday, Aug. 31, a small group of volunteers led by a team from Quartz Corp built 16 raised beds for the garden, which is located in the small field next to Riverside Park that was previously home to a trailer park.
Earlier this year, the Spruce Pine Town Council unanimously approved a decision to offer the land to the Mitchell County Cooperative Extension, who is coordinating the county-wide initiative, to start a community gardening project that will grow fresh produce to be delivered to residents facing food insecurity.
“While the overall goal is to grow food to be shared at no cost with those who need it thereby increasing the consumption of healthy foods, there are multiple benefits that community gardens provide,” said Eve Kindley, the Mitchell County Extension Director for North Carolina Cooperative Extension. “Community gardening mobilizes people and provides opportunities to contribute to the community and build relationships and interpersonal skills.”
The garden, deemed Mitchell Giving Gardens, will join many other “gardens that give” in Western North Carolina providing free, fresh produce to local communities.
Mitchell Giving Gardens was selected as a recipient for The Quartz Corp’s Volunteer Impact Day, so the company constructed the beds and led the workday in which they provided materials, equipment and food to the volunteers who helped install the beds.
“The beds are expertly crafted and the installation, complete with adding wood chips and soil to the boxes along with mulching the area was a seamless operation,” Kindley said. “Indeed, an impact was made. Thanks to The Quartz Corp, our project received a jump start.”
Florence Grant, one of the project’s organizers, said the design of the beds is based on those in the Avery County Cooperative Extension Center Community Garden and they will provide over 700 square feet of growing space.