Charlotte woman plans to start a community garden to help kids on the West side

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - One west Charlotte woman is looking to make a difference with a community garden.

She wants to teach kids, who may live in some tough neighborhoods, how to grow fruits and veggies.

“This is sage here, and this is Rosemary over here,” said Jenee Anderson, who’s had a long time to own her own garden.

Now, it’s coming to fruition.

“We have the potential to change lives in the community,” said Anderson.

On Mt. Holly-Huntersville Road, it doesn’t look like much right now because she just bought the plots.

Her end game is to bring in kids from the community to help grow a thriving garden with watermelons, sweet potatoes, corn, peppers, spices -- basically anything else you can plant to eat or cook with.

She believes farming can be more than a skill, she says it can also be a path towards a steady career.

“You can start a whole wine business; you can start a vineyard. If you decide that you want to grow a hundred different types of tomatoes, you can start a whole tomato sauce business,” she added.

This is important to Jenee because she says too many times, she sees young people going down a bad path.

This garden is her way to try and keep young people busy and out of trouble while learning life lessons.

“It’s all about representation...having somebody there that you can talk to that might have a little insight that you don’t. It’s a really beautiful thing. I feel like you get close to nature, you can understand the balance that we’re all here together,” she said.

If she’s able to pull it all off, food won’t be the only thing served from the garden. A greater purpose will be too.

“Just one person can change that,” said Anderson.

For more information on the garden go to Anderson’s website: https://www.farmbaenae.com/ or her GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/let039s-start-a-black-farm

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