Alliance Members Gather at the Brown Community Garden to Celebrate Growth, Community and Stewardship
The Knox County Community Gardens and Growers’ Alliance held its regular monthly membership meeting for July at the Pastor Richard S. Brown Jr. Community Garden, located at Payne Avenue Missionary Baptist Church, 2723 Louise Avenue, in East Knoxville.
Members gathered at the garden that bears Pastor Brown’s name to talk about how far it has come since it was first established in 2023. What began as an idea has grown into one of East Knoxville’s active community growing spaces, thanks in large part to the vision, dedication, and hard work of Garden Manager Emily Brewer.
Brewer has been stewarding the land, building out infrastructure and creating a space where neighbors can grow their own food. Under her leadership, the garden now includes 64 adopted beds, tended by community members from the surrounding neighborhoods, as well as members of the local refugee community, a reflection of the diversity and reach the garden has built since its founding.
Alliance Executive Director Chris Battle addressed the group during the meeting about the origins of the garden, and Assistant Garden Manager Jess Billings, who has been working alongside Brewer to help maintain the garden, spoke eloquently about the challenges and the successes of the garden. She and Emily emphasized that their biggest successes were in seeing people’s confidence grow and in creating a community space where people are connecting with one another and feel welcome.
The meeting also gave one grower at the garden, Sarhonda Thompson, a chance to speak directly to the group about her own experience with the space. She described how tending her adopted beds at the Garden had impacted her life, deepened her connection to her neighbors, and given her a renewed sense of engagement with her community.
Our community gardens are making a huge difference!
