Mecklenburg County Blog

Tag: Planting

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Harvesting Health with Edible Orchards

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We’ve all heard the saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” There’s a reason for that! Good nutrition is vital to good health and disease prevention. And it’s essential to “growing up big and strong” as my grandmother used to say. Eating nutritious foods (along with a little exercise, of course) can help reduce the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Those are some of the leading causes of death in our County and the country.

Seems easy enough, right? If I eat healthy food, I will be healthier. But it’s not that simple. Not everyone has access to healthy food. I know! It’s hard to believe that in 2020, there are people in our community who don’t have access to a grocery store to get the foods they need to live healthy lives.

An Idea is Planted

Reggie Singleton, one Public Health’s policy coordinators, was inspired to create edible landscapes in Mecklenburg County.

Reggie Singleton, one of Public Health’s policy coordinators, was inspired by the fruit tree orchards he grew up with in the Sea Islands of Charleston, SC. He suggested partnering with other community organizations to install orchards and a system for distributing the food to the communities with food insecurity. And the Edible Landscape Project was born!

Signs of Success

With support and partnership from community organizations, Public Health and its partners have established multiple orchards across priority communities in Mecklenburg County. The orchards produce plums, figs, pears, peaches and persimmons. They have even expanded to plant seasonal herbs and vegetables like squash, string beans, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Neighbors harvest, process and distribute food to nearby community members directly or through the church food pantry. To date, their efforts have supplied fresh, nutritious food to over 25,000 people in the County. Here’s a look inside how the orchards work.

Earlier this year, the Edible Landscapes Project received a Best In Category award from the National Association of Counties.  This project combined with  farmers markets and healthy corner stores is helping communities get better access to healthy food.

A big thanks to our community partners for helping establish and nurture our Edible Landscapes: N.C. Cooperative Extension Service, TreesCharlotte, Village HeartBeat, Mecklenburg Extension Master Gardener, and The Males Place Inc. 

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Environment

Plant This, Not That: A Guide to Native and Invasive Species

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Edited on 3/21/23.
Written with assistance from Catherine Luckenbaugh of Park and Recreation

If there’s one thing that can brighten up a home pretty quickly, it’s adding plants to your garden. But, part of a having a successful garden includes knowing what is and is not suitable for our environment.

Let’s take a look at some of the native plants our Park and Recreation staff recommends using (if you stick with us until the end, we’ll also touch on some invasive species).

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Environment

7 Lessons Learned from Our Horticulturists

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For many of our residents and visitors, our parks are a place to take a stroll, exercise, and/or enjoy the nature that surrounds us. But for others (like some of our staff) our parks are their office five days a week.

While nature does its thing and helps define the way our parks look, did you know that there’s a team of people who spend nearly every minute of their work week making sure that the parks are as beautiful as can be? We wanted to investigate a little bit more about what it’s like to be a horticulturist, so we recently sat down with Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation’s own Kris DeBerry. Here’s what we learned. Continue Reading

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Environment

5 Things to Know to Help your Garden Grow

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Spring has definitely sprung here in Mecklenburg County! As the temperatures get warmer, trees, flowers and plants are blooming and illuminating our parks with magnificent colors (you REALLY should check out Romare Bearden and/or First Ward when you get a chance to see for yourself). But, we know that our parks aren’t the only place where gardens grow. The change from cold to warm may even have YOU inspired to spend time outside and work on your yard.

Let’s face it though, it’s not as simple as just digging a few holes and watering every now and then. There’s a lot that goes into making a garden thrive! Luckily, Park and Rec has a fantastic horticulture team that shed some light on how to help you discover your green thumb.

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