Garrett Fuller
Special to
Northeast News

The Pendleton Heights’ Community Garden is kicking off, after a local organization cleared beds and offered a little elbow grease to aid in preparation.

Sixty volunteers with Jerusalem Farms, a Catholic intentional community, helped prepare the beds over the span of three weeks.

Jordan Schiele, co-founder of Jerusalem Farms, said the Community Garden’s goal is to grow food, bring neighbors together and turn a piece of land into something positive that helps grow the community.
Volunteers weeded and spread compost throughout beds inside the garden, located at 520 Garfield Ave. Schiele said volunteers also helped neighbors by doing general weeding and spreading compost.

Schiele said the farm offers more to the community than food.

“We’ve met some neighbors through the community garden, and it’s always good to know your neighbors,” Schiele said.

Schiele mentioned his neighborhood is diverse and the garden helped him connect with a neighbor that could not speak much English.

“Growing food is a universal language,” Schiele said. “It can be a space that brings people together.”

In addition to helping neighbors connect, Schiele said the garden is used as a way to inform people on how food is grown and issues associated with agriculture, such as immigration, wages and farming practices.

Schiele said the garden is always open and the time is prime for planting cool-weather crops. He said tomatoes can be planted May 10.

Members of the Pendleton Heights Neighborhood Association can contact Whitney Barnardo at board@pendletonheights.org for more information. Small beds (3’x8’) are $15 and large beds (4’x12’) are $25. Shared beds for two people (each person would have a 4’x6’ bed) are available for $10 each.

For more information about Jerusalem Farms, visit jerusalemfarm.org. People interesting in volunteering with Jerusalem Farms can send an email to volunteer@jerusalemfarm.org.