Friendship Gardens
I
here,there and everywhere
WRITTEN BY
Laura Thompson
It’s springtime in Charlotte—a season
filled with the glorious greens of the
city’s rich tree canopy, the pop of yellow
and white daffodils, and the abundance
of budding plants and shrubs. Adding
to the city’s extensive quilt of green are
the more than 75 Friendship Gardens
that are thriving in backyards, schools,
faith-based grounds and community
gardens. They are lovingly created and
maintained by gardeners young and old,
master gardeners and newbies.
Friendship Gardens’ seeds were sown
five years ago through a partnership
between Slow Food Charlotte and
Friendship Trays. Their missions meshed:
Slow Food Charlotte supports local
farms and is committed to maintaining
the connection between farms and the
local marketplace. Friendship Trays—
Charlotte’s local meals-on-wheels program—established the innovative and
ingenious Friendship Gardens as a way
to grow and provide healthy food for
the nearly 700 meals that Friendship
Trays provides daily.
“In 2009, Slow Food Charlotte was active
in supporting and helping to create
community gardens around town. We
learned that Friendship Trays was starting a garden and we asked if we could
help. One garden bed lead to another
and another and soon we literally stumbled on the most obvious idea: What if
we had lots of small gardens growing
food and sharing some portion to benefit
those who lack access to good healthy
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PEACHY