Cultivate Greenville rose from the ashes of Greenville Harvest, July of 2015. Greenville Harvest was founded by East Carolina University’s Dr. Elizabeth Wall-Bassett in the spring of 2007 with ambitions of starting a chain of community gardens in the West Greenville area. Dr. Wall approached this project with a focus on food deserts in which West Greenville holds adequate credentials. Receiving support from both the City of Greenville and Vidant Medical, Greenville Harvest established the West Greenville Community Network, in which would later become Greenville Community Garden Network. Once the board was rooted, the network fused a vision of placing a community garden in walking distance from every home in West Greenville. Before Dr. Walls’ departure in June of 2015, the network had installed eight gardens within a two and a half mile radius.
After Dr. Walls’ exit from Greenville Harvest, Jason S. Lindsay was appointed director of Greenville Harvest and agriculture coordinator of Greenville Community Garden Network. Upon this transition of leadership, knowledge was uncovered that Greenville Harvest was acting out its obligations as a non-profit, yet was filed as a limited liability corporation. The flames of this discovery evolved the ashes in which Cultivate Greenville was born.
Cultivate Greenville was founded on the principles of collective participation, responsibility, education, and sustainability. Sustainability is the rock that we build this fluxion of thinking. Greenville Community Garden Network’s eight gardens are currently based on the giving garden model. In more ways than one, this held the charge of welfare in which needed no introduction to our community. Cultivate Greenville embodies the vision of self-reliance and entrepreneurship through agri-business with community gardens as teaching and demonstration satellites throughout the community. So in February 2016, Cultivate Greenville registered Greenville’s first urban farm. This farm was formed to lead the way in aiding the next generation of organic farmers, stimulating the local economy, and modeling holistic living.
Our stance is that we are growing food to grow community. Farming and gardening is simply the tools we use to re-member the fabric of family throughout our community. Re-connecting people to land and land to the people is the root of the work, so here we plant our seeds and pray for rain.
