Rising out of a former gas station location, a food forest is growing every day to help the Deuces community.
The neighborhood at 22nd Street S. is considered a food desert by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This means its residents have little access to fresh food from grocery stores.
According to the U.S.D.A., living in a food desert area can have harmful effects on a person’s long-term health, including obesity, diabetes, malnutrition and heart issues.
The Deuces community is taking on this problem with the Deuces Live Food Forest. It is a community garden started in 2022 by former garden president Ramona Brayboy. The garden is now maintained by the new president, Royce Wheeler.
The Deuces Live, which funds and oversees the Food Forest, is a non-profit organization that works toward renewing the community through supporting small businesses, resident wellness and affordable housing.
Latorra Bowles, the executive director of Deuces Live, said it is important for her community to have the community garden as a meeting place.
“It’s more than a food forest, it’s also a safe space,” Bowles said. “You can come out here; you can volunteer if you’d like. A lot of people like to volunteer their time especially when it comes to something very productive for the community.”
The goal of the Food Forest is to provide food stability for the neighborhood. Deuces residents can both volunteer in the garden as well as shop produce grown there. The food forest contains a wide range of produce, with more than 30 varieties of fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Volunteers can harvest organic crops like pigeon peas, collard greens, carrots, onions, and papayas.
The garden is a reasonable and very close distance compared to other healthy options that are farther away. There are two main caretakers, and there are typically up to 10 volunteers that also tend to the garden.
Residents can ask volunteers to harvest what they need if they do it in a way that does not damage the plant. Volunteers also collect crops and distribute them to neighboring businesses and the community.
Everything grown in the garden is free to take with the help of the volunteers.
“If you see us, come up and ask, but it is free for the community,” Wheeler said. “If they do come, we ask that you take a little bit off and do not rip it off and out of the ground, but yes, everything is free.”
Wheeler and volunteers are out in the garden daily from 3 to 5 p.m. Deuces residents who want to volunteer can contact Bowles for an application.
“I like that it’s open to the community, and they’re able to come out and request some of the items in the garden,” Deuces Live President Shundra Allison said.
Allison also harvests some of the plants to garnish and spice up mixed drinks at her neighboring bar, The Urban Drinkery.
“I do pull the herbs and things from the garden, especially the mint, the basil. Those are the main [ones] I do use out of the garden,” Allison said. “I’m super excited that we do grow it over here so I could just walk right next door.”
Bowles said she believes that contributing to the garden for at least 30 minutes a day can benefit volunteers and the garden. It keeps the food in the garden fresh and healthy and helps the community connect with one another.
“Because this is their community, this is our community,” Bowles said. “If they are a part of something so big, especially when it comes to the food desert, that makes the impact even bigger and better for the community.”
Volunteering at the Deuces Food Forest
Fill out this form to learn more about volunteering at The Deuces Food Forest.
With additional reporting from E’mari Cooper, Jayden Richardson, Honesty Culp and Rosalie Lensky.
