Fueled by the passion of three AmeriCorps volunteers, the Knox County Community Action Committee and the City of Knoxville are bringing together a wide variety of community partners, including Keep Knoxville Beautiful to cultivate the Community Nourishment Garden at Tyson Park.
This exciting project encompasses their mission’s ideals of Community, Education, Productivity, Sustainability and Beauty by installing and maintaining a charitable garden of fruit trees, berries, and vegetables to directly benefit refugees at Bridge Refugee Settlement Services and community as a whole. The accessible location and undemanding design will be productive at different times of year and rely on volunteer commitment and sponsorship that they hope to gain from more areas of our community.
Some of the notable features of the design include:
- Repurposed Building Materials: to build raised beds, a tool shed, and other needs as an example of raw resource reduction and material reuse
- Water Catchment: to collect rainwater for responsible resource use in the garden
- Productive and Edible Landscape Design: to provide food to the community and beneficiary throughout the growing season including pawpaw and apple trees, berries, hardy herbs and vegetables
- Compost: to ensure that organic waste generated in the garden will be naturally recycled into compost and become a soil supplement for the garden
- Rain Garden: to improve the water quality of Third Creek by filtering storm water as a model that community members can employ to lessen their household impact on our waterways.
To get involved with this landmark project, attend a public committee meeting or get in touch with the organizers:
Liz Moniz: moniz.elizabeth@gmail.com :974-2049
Matt Butzlaff: mbutzlaff@cityofknoxville.org :755 3178
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