Greenhouse to provide year-round growing at Brownsville community garden

First Christian Church on Second Street teamed up with the Brownsville nonprofit Team Humanity to start the garden about two years ago.

“We thought (the church) would be a great spot,” said Team Humanity founder William James, who helped secure donated wood for the garden beds.

“The last two years went a long way,” said church board president Ed DeMuth, with tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, kale and a variety of other vegetables and herbs planted and grown by local young people.

James, a former NFL player and Brownsville native, said about 30 children helped out with the project, learning about gardening and produce along the way.

“One of the great experiences I got out of was seeing kids and community members come in and pick green and red peppers and watermelon off the ground, and seeing that is exciting,” James said. “These kids think all produce comes from the store, but now they can see it growing out of the ground.”

With the community garden a success, James wanted to expand on the idea to have the experience last all year by constructing a greenhouse.

“It’s going to be an outdoor learning center,” James said, adding that it will present education through hands-on learning about health, good food choices, and the different aspects of gardening. “It will be very attractive to kids.”

To help with the funding for the greenhouse, the church recently received a $3,500 grant from the church’s National Benevolent Association.

“Will’s doing good work with the garden, and we were able to watch stuff grow in the summer,” said church Pastor Don Snyder. “When he started talking about the greenhouse, we thought it was a good partnership already, and a way to move it forward and an opportunity for youth to be involved in a positive activity.”

Lisa Buday, a Washington County attorney and a member of the National Benevolent Association, suggested that Snyder write a grant application and submit it to the association to purchase tables, chairs and materials for the greenhouse.

She was thrilled when she learned the local church was one of the grant recipients.

“I’ve always been around gardens,” she said. “Anytime you can have people with their hands in the soil, eating tomato with sunshine rather than in plastic, it’s always a good thing.”

James said they hope to start construction of the greenhouse in the spring.