Carolina Nature Coalition had the pleasure to host Mary Smolinski and Denise Kelly, volunteers with River Bend Community Organic Garden and Education Center. Mary and Denise narrated a pictorial tour of the mission and growth of the vegetable, pollinator and education garden.
The presentation titled “Our Garden Grows More Than Food”, demonstrated how the organic garden meets the challenges our unique ENC climate presents, and how the garden helps to bring a community together.
Mary is a transplant from a Vermont homestead. Her large vegetable garden measured 40 x 80 feet and was surrounded by flower beds! Mary is now learning how to garden in our very sunny, hot and humid eastern North Carolina weather by volunteering with the River Bend Community Organic Garden.
Denise Kelly is a transplant from California where she had a small farm and a large garden with fruit trees, chickens and beehives. Recently, Denise became a certified beekeeper with the state of NC. She is the President of the Craven-Pamlico Beekeeping Association and the beekeeper at the River Bend Community Organic Garden.
"The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature.
To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul." – Alfred Austin