Dennis Mason and Eleanor Walker live in Watkinsville, and they wanted to help their community. When they found out that a local food bank needed food, they decided to act. Dennis started a small garden, inspired by the one his parents had when he was young. He recalls, “Everyone knew how to till the Earth and grow food.” What began as a hobby turned into a passion after his retirement in 2023 when he announced to Eleanor that gardening would take center stage in his life. That’s when Salem Gardens came to be.
Eleanor shares his love for gardening. She has fond memories of working alongside her grandparents in the garden. It seems fewer people now know the joy of growing their own food. She reflects on how things have changed: “We always had a big chest freezer with home-cooked meals. That’s a generational shift.”
Both Dennis and Eleanor are proud graduates of the University of Georgia. Dennis has built their home, wood shop, greenhouse, and shed, while Eleanor enjoys using tech advancements like automatic watering systems in their garden. Their garden is more advanced than the ones their families had, yet their ultimate goal is to reconnect people with their roots and the importance of growing food.
“Back then, food was a celebration of life,” Dennis explains, looking at how food culture has changed over the years. Their gardening is a year-round commitment. “In the spring, we grow broccoli and kale. By summer, it’s all about peppers and tomatoes.”
This past harvest season showed them just how much extra produce they had. Not wanting it to go to waste, they turned to their friend Rick Waters, who mentioned the need at the local food bank. So, they began donating to the Northeast Georgia Food Bank, an organization that helps many in the area. “We donated 300 pounds the first year, and last year it was over 2,100 pounds,” Mason shares proudly.
Rick also volunteered to help with the gardening and transport the produce. He loads up hundreds of pounds each week, bringing in fresh fruits and vegetables directly from the garden. “Our fresh produce looks so much better,” Rick noted, contrasting it with store-bought items that may be on the shelf for days before reaching families.
Food insecurity is a growing issue, and Athens is not exempt. A recent study by the University of Georgia found that 1 in 5 residents in Athens faces food insecurity. Alarmingly, 35% of those who experience this do not qualify for federal food assistance programs, highlighting a significant gap in support. Local initiatives like Meals on Wheels work to tackle food insecurity, and Mason, Walker, and Waters have all participated in those efforts. “We all have a part to play,” Dennis remarked about their collective work in addressing this critical need.
In these small ways, they are making a difference while nurturing the community’s connection to the land. Gardening isn’t just a pastime for Mason and Walker; it’s a way to feed bodies and reconnect hearts to the earth.
U.S. Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity as “a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food.” Their tireless labor in the garden speaks to a larger fight against this issue, one harvest at a time.
Abby Wright is a senior majoring in journalism at the University of Georgia.
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