Grass Roots
Grass-roots Urban Environmentalism - EarthMatters grows out of community food at the corner of Lealand and Gale.
by Pam Sherbourne
Tennessean, Davidson AM - 7/23/08
Environmental group has roots in food park...Community garden at Lealand and Gale fosters togetherness and interest in earth matters
Karin Eyler entered the George W. Carver Earth Food Park at the corner of Lealand and Gale Lanes thru the fence in her Izuzu Trooper.
With her, she had two large jars. One was filled with food pieces left over from a birthday party. The other was filled with banana peels. She dug a hole in the compost pile and buried what was left from the birthday party. The other jar she gave to Shangode Easely, caretaker of all the roses growing at the Parks DeFord Bailey rose garden.
"If you ever have any banana peels don't throw them away because they are great for my roses," Easely said. Eyler and Easley are just two of many who have brought this 2 acre site, just on the other side of the I-440 sound wall, to life. May of the gardens visitors are part of the group EarthMatters Networks, a group of environmental educators, youth and organizations that have come together to make a difference in the community. But, others just drop by. It is a place. they say, for people to come for fellowship, education, and to work with the earth.
And, the roots of the flowers and vegetable that have taken hold here grow very deep.
The origins of this park go back to the early 1990s with Sizwe Herring. At that time, Herring said, he was very involved in the zoo boosters in Nashville, a group of individuals trying to bring a natural zoo to Nashville. So, it was only fitting that he ran in the same circles with other Nashville environmentalists.
Through that networking, Herring was asked to become the project manager for Green Neighborhoods Project, a program that was then under Recycle! Nashville.
He managed the Leaf Lift project, where he and a group of vounteers would gather leaves for compost at the site of the Earth Park. They would also go to homes and help people build composting bins and learn the process.
In 1996, Herring and the group of volunteers he worked closely with decided to spin off from the Green Neighborhoods Project. Even though the efforts, he wanted to become more instrumental in the urban area. That was when he created EarthMatters.
"There wasn't a lot of access for recycling being done in the African- American community," Herring said. "We wanted to focus on more educational opportunities the urban neighborhoods."
Over the years, Herring said EarthMatters has evolved. THe food park is the soul of the organization, but they have used that to expand life's lessons to the community. And, that includes at-risk youths. Kids in the Country, managed under the nonprofit Plenty International , is one such program in which EarthMatters participate.
"We also have a church group of young girls that come in," Easley said. "They have just started their own garden."
"And we have the pizza garden," Eyler said. "There are some kids that plant herbs that they might like on their pizza."
That includes dill, basil, sage and, well, also some lavender.
There are a community garden and individual gardens. There are flowers and vegetables. There are tomatoes, okra, black-eyed peas, pepers, squash and lima beans.
There is composting that goes on throughout the year. There is pumpkin smashing in the fall, where people bring in their pumpkins and smash them. That is added to the composting piles, and pumpkins grow randomly throughout the park.
Last year, the gardens were actually able to install a water source. Now, they have hoses and sprinklers to water. Before then, they used rain water barrels or had Metro water services tap the fire hydrant. The rain barrels are stilled used.
"I spent a whole lot more time last year in the park than I do this summer," Eyler said. "It took a long time to water the plants."
"And, we use everything that people give us," Easley said. "We have a shed full of tools."
EarthMatters has occasional days where member get together. They have a stage for entertainment. They bring potluck dishes. The organization is inter-racial and international.
"Sometimes we have what we call a global stir fry," Herring said. "We don't want to be a melting pot. We want to be a stir fry where everything retains its own flavor."
And, everyone is welcome.
"We want you to spend your first little bit of energy to get out of the car and come on over," he said. " THe message I want to get out is that we need grass-roots support."
