It's been a dry summer, but an afternoon rainstorm has cooled the air and delivered some much-needed water to crops in the community garden here in Elliston in Montgomery County.
A pair of volunteers are spending the evening clearing weeds and shifting plantings, as birds sing in nearby trees.
"I love to dig in the dirt," says Marie Goodwin, a master gardener who lives just up the road in Shawsville. "I just love it! I just sit there and play with all the plants, and look at 'em."
"Well, I know this is my personal fourth attempt to get a community garden in this area," Goodwin says.
The difference this time is she partnered with a community organizer, who has built contacts through her activism for prison reform and against the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
"I know a lot about gardening, she knows about organizing," Goodwin says. "So, it just works out good."
The Eastmont Community Foundation provided land for the garden, and it's now in its third year.
The first year, it produced 1,000 pounds of produce for the food pantry next door and a free fridge up the road at the Meadowbrook Public Library. Last year, that ticked up to 1,300 pounds.
This year probably won't see as much, due to the drought, but they're getting a better handle on weeds and bugs.
The garden was funded by a grant from POWHR, which stands for Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights — a group that formed in large part to fight the pipeline. But it's grown to become a convening place for community members.
"Everybody likes each other," Goodwin says. "They talk to each other. They work pretty hard. But then we come and sit around the table and have snacks and talk! And it's just really nice."
The Eastmont Community Garden sits in a food desert. Residents must travel to Christiansburg or Salem to get to grocery stores.
15 years ago, community activists fought off a proposed intermodal facility to link the nearby interstate and railroad tracks. And some residents are still fighting the Mountain Valley Pipeline, and its plan to build a new compressor station.
Community gardens in Blacksburg and Roanoke are set up differently, but also serve as focal points for community and activism. Those gardens are generally divided into plots that are leased to families, with some land set aside as community spaces.
"Last I checked, I think we have representation from 15 different countries at the gardens," says Emma Jensen, community gardens coordinator for Live Work Eat Grow in Blacksburg. "The gardens provide these folks a place to gather and connect with other people from their communities, have a space to relax and be outside and grow culturally relevant vegetables they often can't find in grocery stores."
These gardens can function as pathways into community activism, too.
"It's naturally building community and I think activism and community are entwined," says Amelia Empson, who oversees four community gardens in Roanoke for the Local Environmental Agriculture Project, or LEAP. "I have a lot of people who have gotten into native plants and understanding their importance, just seeing people who have learned about it and then started. And another thing is just having these spaces are important for people to meet in. We had lots of people use this space a nice, neutral outdoor space to talk about things. But I have lots of gardeners who get together and scheme in a very positive way about tackling problems, 'I've noticed that this is going on.' We've had sometimes gardeners meet up here and go to No Kings protests."
These gardeners have begun harvesting tomatoes and other summer crops, sowing for the fall, and devising plans for what to do differently next year — and, perhaps, how to change the world.
