Plan is to construct the George Washington Carver Victory Garden & Farm
$4.3M plan for 10 acres in Columbus invites community to get involved.
By Mark Rice
Ldger Enquirer
January 15, 2021
Excerpts:
The plan is to construct the George Washington Carver Victory Garden & Farm on the 10 vacant acres behind the Marshall Success Center and Davis Elementary School and along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. To start, the nonprofit community development organization Turn Around Columbus is trying to raise $143,000 for the project’s first phase.
Turn Around Columbus is partnering with the Muscogee County School District on the victory garden and farm to provide students hands-on learning in math, science and entrepreneurship. The goal is to empower youth to become positive change agents, with the byproduct of affordable and healthy food for the community.
“After the kids understand where food comes from and how it manages to get on the store shelves, then we’ll bring the parents in and let the kids teach the parents what they know and what they’ve learned, which will bring the family unit back together,” Turn Around Columbus President Ronzell Buckner told the Ledger-Enquirer.
A wide variety of vegetables, fruits, nuts, berries, flowers and herbs are being planned for the garden and farm, which won’t have livestock.
“We are growing for family nutrition, so there will be a diversity of crops focused on what people are likely to eat,” Irene Shaver, a Turn Around Columbus volunteer and grant writer, said.
