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Englewood Garden Unites Neighborhood After Quadrupling in Size

 Yolanda McNeal (l.) works on her plot with friends from the neighborhood.
Yolanda McNeal (l.) works on her plot with friends from the neighborhood.
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DNAinfo/Andrea V. Watson

WEST ENGLEWOOD — Yolanda McNeal, 48, said having a community garden creates unity in her neighborhood.

McNeal, a West Englewood resident, has been a member of the Hermitage Street Community Gardens group for two years. The garden’s coordinator, Cordia Pugh, of Englewood, started the community garden in 2011 and now is expanding it.

Initially, there were 30 individual plots for families. The land was donated by nonprofit Growing Homes for the first three years and now it’s community managed through NeighborSpace.

Pugh said she wanted to address the food desert issue by giving residents access to fresh vegetables. After acquiring two additional vacant lots from Abraxas Geo Group back in September and October of 2014, Pugh has turned them into 120 plots for people in her neighborhood.

Pugh didn’t do it alone. She had the help of engineering students from Lindblom Math and Science Academy, who were her design team.

Their teacher, Lawrence Bass, reached out to Pugh before the school year began, asking her if his second- and third-year students could work with her on the Hermitage Street Community Gardens’ expansion. They began designing last October and over the weekend, the students worked side-by-side with parents and volunteers to finish the expanded community garden.

“Here’s where community members can meet, talk, grow food, have a real 'clothes-line experience' that we hear our parents talking about they had with their neighbors over the clothes line,” Pugh said. “Here is the new clothes experience, where you can engage in a very organic garden and be able to just kind of build community. Before we grow food we have to grow people, so we’re trying to grow relationships in the community, and establish a real community feeling that we don't’ really have.”

Pugh said she grew up gardening and would assist her grandfather with his garden.

“I was his little helper,” she said.

McNeal was introduced to gardening two years ago when she was looking for something to occupy her time.

 Ald. Toni Foulkes (16th) joined engineering students from Lindblom Math and Science Academy on June 6, 2015, as they built two gardens, one for the community, another for veterans. Lawrence Bass, (l.) guided his students through the class project that began in October of 2014.
Ald. Toni Foulkes (16th) joined engineering students from Lindblom Math and Science Academy on June 6, 2015, as they built two gardens, one for the community, another for veterans. Lawrence Bass, (l.) guided his students through the class project that began in October of 2014.
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DNAinfo/Andrea V. Watson

“I didn’t have anything else to do so I signed up. It has been fun,” she said.

McNeal tended to her plot on Saturday, where she is growing tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and peppers. In the past, she has grown greens and zucchini.

She said she likes what the students are doing.

“It’s good because people will come together and unite,” McNeal said, adding the original garden has already connected people from all over. “Some of them are not even from the neighborhood, so this is good for the community. You get to meet new people.”

Humboldt Park resident Domonique Hollins, 37, said she is considering purchasing a plot. Hollins supports what the students are doing and said it’s good that they’re able to “tap into” their engineering skills so young.

“I think this is great,” she said.

Ald. Toni Foulkes (16th) made a special visit to check on the progress of the garden.

Foulkes saw the garden when it was first created in 2011 and that to see how much it has grown is “awesome.” Foulkes said taking care of the land is a part of many people’s heritage.

“This is where we come from,” she said. “Everybody migrated. [Many African American] families migrated from the south, and this is where we come from, so now the young generation can now see how they did it."

Foulkes said she visited her aunt as a child in Michigan and would help pick strawberries, peaches and peas.

“It’s exciting for them to see not only what can be done in the community, but also be a part of their heritage as well,” Foulkes said.

She said she has always been a supporter of urban farms, along with other environmental initiatives such as aquaponics. These are some of the things she’d like to see more of when it comes to utilizing Englewood’s vacant lots.

“There is a lot of space where a lot can be done and probably bring jobs and make money from growing,” Foulkes said.

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