Patty Patterson is a longtime resident and advocate for West Jackson. She is a community organizer and owner of Repurposed Projects, where she builds products out of recycled materials. She lives on Eastview Street and across from her beautiful yellow bungalow home was a vacant building with vacant land.

The building used to be the only grocery store in the neighborhood, known as Stewart Grocery. And the vacant land behind the building was overgrown and collecting trash. Early spring she decided she wanted to transform the property into a community garden and a usable space for the community.

So she worked closely with the land owner to clean up the property. Then she had the property cleared off and had several trees removed. In late April, she planted her very first garden. She planted peppers, melons, cantaloupe, green beans, and squash. She also planted sunflowers to beautify the garden.

In early June, she was surprised that her garden had grown so quickly. Patty began harvesting her vegetables and giving them away to community residents that live near the garden. In order to keep small animals out of the garden she built a fence out of wood pallets.

Since she began the garden she has had several community volunteers, old and young, help out in the garden. Patty said, “This is just another way I am trying to give back to my community.”

Below are pictures from the garden.