COLUMBUS, Ohio — There are a handful of Columbus neighborhoods that thrived at one point and are now in the midst of rebuilding their community. The King-Lincoln Bronzeville neighborhood is one of them.
It starts with having a sustainable food supply and grocery stores in this area are not close enough to offer healthy and affordable options.
“It is very hard to get healthy food around here, we live virtually in a food desert,” said Angela Gibbs, who moved into a home on North Garfield in May. “I mean from here going north, east, south or west, it's about five miles to the nearest grocery store. So there are a lot of smaller mom and pop stores, but they don't offer fresh fruits and vegetables.”
Gibbs says she has a vehicle to get her to the store but to get the healthier food she wants she has to drive further distances.
“The closest grocery stores are not always the most cost-efficient grocery store,” said Gibbs. “So if I go further out to the grocery store, I'm saving a couple of pennies, but I'm using a lot of gas so it doesn't kind of weigh out.”
She decided to take up gardening.
“Having fresh fruits and vegetables close to me, as well as in my own front yard, helps me not to have to go to the grocery store as often. I didn't think I had a green thumb to maybe a little light green thumb now,” said Gibbs.
Gibbs said she has enough fresh produce in her own garden to provide enough greenery for her Thanksgiving meal. The gardening advice came from Dr. Julialynne Walker, the site manager at the Mamie Mack Community Garden, right near Gibbs’ home.
Once a vacant lot Columbus Land Bank property, the Mamie Mack Community Garden has raised beds thanks to The Mission Continues veterans group and plant donations from others in the community.
“We can begin growing already and we have grown we've grown herbs and some vegetables over the summer. We can begin to put things in so that we will be ready to go in the spring. And we hope by that time we will have the high tunnel and as well,” said Walker.
The high tunnel hoop is set to be 40-feet long and more than 10 feet high, according to Walker. It was purchased from Tunnel Vision Hoops, an Ohio-based company from Shaker Heights, Ohio.
“The reason we started tunnel vision hoops was because we care about local food economies,” said Todd Alexander, the cofounder. “And that's still at our core, most of the small form farmers that we sell to, or the backyard growers, or the community gardeners have similar philosophies. So, it always feels good, it always feels good, selling a structure to some group of people who are doing good stuff.”
“I think in the past two years, it's become clear to us that we have to be open to changing how we view a lot of what we took for granted,” said Walker, “and certainly the role of community gardens and providing food and providing an outlet, and providing even a certain amount of emotional stability.”
Walker expects the high tunnel hoop will be constructed on North Garfield in March. In total, there will be two high tunnels on the Near East Side. There are 16 community gardens on the east side of the city.