SEEDS in the NEWS (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

The following story by Marie Lovejoy aired on July 9, 2007, as part of WUNC's Next Generation Radio project.  View her bio or download an mp3 copy of the entire project at http://wunc.org/news/nextgen. 

In Durham, another program is trying to keep kids out of trouble through gardening.  The non-profit community gardening association SEEDS connects high-school and middle-schoolers through a program called DIG, or Durham Inner City Gardeners.  The teenagers accepted into the program grow a variety of goods to sell at the local farmer’s market on Saturday mornings. 

Next Generation Radio’s Marie Lovejoy reports.

Standing on the corner of Gilbert and Elizabeth Streets in East Durham, NC, one can immediately see a burned out and boarded up house, an abandoned warehouse, and an old but still functioning grainery.  But by far, the strongest presence on this corner is a large garden about half the size of a basketball court, filled with a variety of vegetables, herbs, flowers and cross-pollinating bees.

Across the street, a large, colorful hand-painted sign lies propped up near a cinder block building.  It reads “SEEDS.”  Fourteen-year-old Valencia is inside with about a dozen other teenagers who started working at the DIG program about 6 weeks ago when the growing season began.

I like watering plants and dealing with plants and plus, every time you come over like if you go in a specific place in Durham, oh, it’s all dead and dingy and don’t have no color so you come over here and it’s all colorful and stuff and its making a better environment and then it keeps me out of trouble and stuff.

DIG is one of many programs funded through SEEDS, which has an annual budget of $300,000.  Most of this money comes through private donations.  From this a small stipend is set aside to pay the teenagers in DIG.  The group meets to work on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.  Using only organic methods they plant, water, weed and harvest.

Pardon me dear; I need your help for a second, if I may.

One of the co-directors of the DIG program, Bernard Obie, teaches the teenagers about living a healthy lifestyle and getting their hands dirty.

We’re trying to help young people, to understand about life. What fortifies it, what nourishes it.  Get to learn about the choices that they can make and how those choices play out in their lives terms of their health and well-being.

Though some come from rural backgrounds, for many of these teenagers, this is their first exposure to where their food comes from.  Obie recalls one participant who moved here from Baltimore.

He didn’t know that chickens laid eggs.  He’d never seen a chicken.  Never seen a picture of a chicken to my knowledge.  When we took him to a farm, not just him but the whole group that went, he was like, is that a chicken?

Another member of the DIG program, David Clarke, is on a path to agriculture at his high school.  He is a tall 14-year-old African American with dark skin.  He’s proud of his muscles and claims gardening helps keep him in shape when it’s not football season.  When David first applied to DIG he was rejected.  Instead of letting it get to him, he showed up anyway to volunteer.  David eventually convinced the directors to hire him.  He knows he could make more money elsewhere.

Like I wouldn’t be proud if I said, yeah I made that sloppy quarter pound cheeseburger right there and then, which made in like 30 seconds, and then, other than me saying yeah I grew that 6 lb cabbage right there.  It makes you feel good at the end of the day, like, I’m doing something with my life, even though you’re my good friend, but I’m doing something with my life and you’re not. That’s what I get to say sometimes.

Back at the dig garden, program director Obie talks about some of the other choices these teenagers could make.

And we’ve heard gunshots around the corner, more than one occasion.

In addition to learning about cultivation and marketing, the young gardeners are tutored by volunteers in academic subjects and encouraged to express their creativity in different ways.  Valencia is shy about testing out her new rap.

Come on girl.

Ultimately this rap will be a collaborative effort by all the members of DIG that they can post online.  It’s all part of an effort to market themselves and the program. Valencia tries out what she’s got so far.

Yo yo yo yo seeds is a place where we communicate.  We plant seeds digs things and we get the job done.  We plant flowers and we watch them grow.  We sell it at the market and we make that dough.

Much in the same way that one seed from one plant can yield hundreds more within a couple of generations, the members of DIG hope their efforts will spread across the city, continuing to germinate, continuing to grow.  As proof, DIG just got word that their funding has increased so they can double their membership for next season.

Take it from us.  We won’t let you down.  Come on to seeds and we’ll show you around.  Peace.

For Next Generation Radio, this is Marie Lovejoy.

Learn more about DIG.

Our mission: SEEDS encourages respect for life, for earth and for each other.  We help individuals, neighborhoods and communities grow together through gardening, gathering and education.