CLEVELAND — City, community and nonprofit leaders celebrated the opening of a new community garden in Cleveland’s Buckeye-Woodhill neighborhood, which was built on the site of three now-demolished, derelict homes. The community garden aims to provide access to fresh produce while also serving as a beacon for the ongoing renewal of the neighborhood.
The community garden is a labor of love for Ernest Fields, the pastor at Cavalry Hill Church of God in Christ, and his wife, Iris. The church is adjacent to the new garden, which features fenced-in raised beds, a compost bin, an irrigation system and a pavilion shelter for community gatherings. The community garden is a far cry from the decrepit, forlorn homes that once occupied the space.
“It’s more than a dream come true because we couldn’t have even dreamed that what we started with would end up in this space right here,” Pastor Fields said. “We thought that was pie in the sky. We thought we would never really obtain that vision or that goal, but you know I tell you, it’s amazing.”
The genesis of the community garden started as a series of raised beds that Iris Fields and other parishioners built, maintained, and later outgrew. An offshoot of the Fields’ broader goal to bring about renewal to the half-dozen neighborhood streets surrounding the church, the community garden has effectively turned an eyesore into a community asset, joining the nearby Ubuntu Gathering Place and Ernest Turner Memorial Park as new community assets.
“Being able to have these oases in the concrete playground is just a beautiful thing,” said City Council President Blaine Griffin. “This is the next step in the progression of some of the things that they have done to beautify the neighborhood, including working on tearing homes down, tearing large structures down, building new houses through Habitat for Humanity, and also making sure that we have these public park amenities.”
The Fields and the church didn’t do it alone, however. The city, city council, city landbank, and Western Reserve Land Conservancy, among others, helped to turn the space into a community garden. Ultimately, the project required a $200,000 investment, which was financed through public and private funds.
“The major thing about this is that it is a step in the renewal of the whole area, which is what we are interested in,” Fields said. “We are interested in transforming these streets.”
