Charlotte Greens – Cissy Shull

00:00:25	Introductions
00:01:05	How Mrs. Shull got into gardening
00:01:28	Mrs. Shull participation with Charlotte Green
00:02:12	Mrs. Shull gives details about Charlotte Green’s gardens
00:02:50	Operations of Charlotte Green
00:05:00	Belmont Garden
00:06:37	Partnership with Mecklenburg Parks and Recreation
00:09:37	Funding for Charlotte Green
00:11:08	Maintenace of the gardens
00:11:48	Impact of the gardens on their community
00:13:12	The use of organic and inorganic fertilizers
00:14:10	Age of the participant in the garden
00:15:05	Organized events at the gardens
00:16:30	Story about boy scout and the planting of fig trees
00:17:25	Different plants and flowers grown in the gardens
00:21:42	Garden operation during seasonal change
00:24:00	The gardens animal problems
00:25:13	Complaints about the community gardens
00:26:15	Charlotte Green’s impact on the community
00:30:15	Garden workspaces
00:32:10	Community outreach
00:33:36	Hopes of expanding Charlotte Green
00:35:25	Mrs. Shull role and what she has learned at Charlotte Green
00:37:53	Mrs. Shull’s thoughts on community gardening
00:39:23	How to get into gardening around Charlotte
00:40:29	Conclusion
00:41:05	Future of Charlotte Green

Johnathan Glover 00:00:16
Hi, my name is Jonathan Glover and I am here with Cissy Shull on the Count of the Queen’s Garden Oral History of the Piedmont Food Shed Project. And we are here at the Mary Nash Garden at Wilmore Community Garden. And it’s nice to have you today.

Cissy Shull
Thank you so much. I’m thrilled. We have had maybe two or three times college students that have come and asked us about these food deserts and the history. And it’s a pleasure to be a part of your organization and project.

Johnathan Glover 00:01:00
Thank you for having us. And today is October 18, 2024. And to get into it, I’m going to ask you a few introductory little questions. How did you get into gardening?

Cissy Shull
I had a wonderful mother who loved gardening flowers. And as a child, she introduced me to vegetable gardening. And I have loved it ever since. Great.

Johnathan Glover
When and how long have you been participating with Charlotte Green?

Cissy Shull
This is our 33rd year. We started in 1991.

Johnathan Glover
And you said it’s been around since 1991?

Cissy Shull
Yes.

Johnathan Glover
And what was the first garden?

Cissy Shull
Wilmore, where we are today.

Johnathan Glover
Where we are today. And this is the oldest garden?

Cissy Shull
This is our oldest garden, yes.

Johnathan Glover
What’s the newest garden that you have?

Cissy Shull
The newest garden we have is Southside that we did in 2000.

Johnathan Glover
And do you know what the biggest one is?

Cissy Shull
That’s a good question. It is either between Irwin Creek or Genesis Park. You’ll have to judge.

Johnathan Glover 00:02:19
Yes, ma’am. How many community gardens do you have in Charlotte Green? Cissy: Well now we have six. Our individual gardens, this is exactly three gardens, which I explained to you earlier. And then we have one in Southside Irwin Creek, Genesis Park.

Johnathan Glover
Okay. And so we’re going to transition into our main questions of the day. How do the Charlotte Green community gardens operate?

Cissy Shull
We operate because of the enthusiasm and the dedication of the gardeners. We are supported in part by Myers Park United Methodist Church. And through them, and the city of Charlotte, we have located spots to garden and neighborhoods to get involved in. Our main thrust is to communicate with these neighborhoods and have the gardeners buy into the idea of making their area of town beautiful with vegetable gardens. And now some of the gardeners are putting flowers in, which is really nice.

Johnathan Glover 00:03:42
Okay. How are, the gardeners set up, are they like local ordinances or permits required for them?

Cissy Shull
What we did was we found vacant lots. Then we found the owners of the vacant lots and we got permission to use their property. And because they were, they had to maintain, the owners had to maintain these properties by keeping the grass, the load and everything. We said we will come in and take over this property and we will maintain it and so you don’t have to worry about maintaining it yourselves. And in the process, we will get involved with the neighborhood association and find people interested in gardening and that’s how it worked.

Johnathan Glover 00:04:42
So was it ever difficult to ever get the use of land?

Cissy Shull
No.

Johnathan Glover
No?

Cissy Shull
Not at all. And in fact, we had a garden in the Belmont neighborhood that we had to close because of non-interest and that’s an up and going kind of neighborhood. And when we were there, we were called by the police because it was a really rough corner and at that time we were in the Belmont neighborhood, we were on Siegel Avenue and I approached the gardeners and they said, “Well, we’ll work on it for a year. If we find it is too bad.” It was on the corner of Belmont and Allen. But they stayed there for almost 28 years and then some of the older gardeners retired and the enthusiasm for gardening in that neighborhood declined so we closed that. But we’ve had the police department. Duke Power gave us the land over on Genesis Park. Park and Rec was thrilled. I told you about Irwin Creek. They had an established garden that wasn’t being used and Park and Rec were thrilled that we wanted to have a group go over there and garden. And it was very easy.

Johnathan Glover 00:06:18
So you talked about Park and Rec. How are y’all in constant collaboration with them?

Cissy Shull
Not really because it’s Irwin Creek Garden and Southside that is partnered with Park and rec. And unless there is a real need, we do not contact Park and rec and they say they like that a lot. But I will show you when we get there that we have asked them for things and they have just done a beautiful job helping us out because Charlotte Green couldn’t possibly tackle some of these projects. You need a boatload of volunteers to do stuff.

Johnathan Glover 00:07:14
Right. So before we actually started the interview, you were talking about Tim Turton. Could you talk about his involvement with Charlotte Green?

Cissy Shull
Well, the Irwin Creek Gardeners started their first garden in the Bethlehem Center area. And they decided they wanted to move. And one of the gardeners who was on our board said, “I see a vacant garden that’s down here, raised beds, nobody’s gardening. Let’s go look at it.” And so I said, “Man, that looks great. Let’s contact the head of your homeowner’s association and see if he knows anything about this garden.” And he said, “Yes, he did know about the garden and everything and he welcomed us because we had nine wonderful people interested in gardening.” So we started gardening and we came over to the garden one day and there was a sign. And it said, “Hello, this is Tim Turton from Park and Rec. Who are you and did you know that the Park and Rec owned this land? We’d love to have a chat with you.” It was a very nice note. So I contacted Wendy McCullough who was on our board. She said, “Call him, call him.” And so we called and we met and he said, “This is wonderful because you’re taking over an area that is not being used.” And just to say something about Tim Turton, he has brought community gardening to more areas in Charlotte Mecklenburg and is a wealth of knowledge and he’s also very, very well respected if you’re interested in gardening in Charlotte and you live in Charlotte. And you’re not in one of our neighborhoods, please call him because he’ll find a garden for you.

Johnathan Glover 00:09:30
Yes ma’am. That sounds good. So how exactly are the gardens funded?

Cissy Shull
All right. But Charlotte Green has an auxiliary and we sent a letter out in March and we usually raise about $15,000 and with that $15,000 we are able to till if we need to purchase tillers or weed eaters. We have money to do that. We have money to buy the plants for two seasons for all the gardens as well as maintaining the gardens. So all that funding goes and then we have a dinner which we just had in early October and the board of directors gives that and monies from the auxiliary are used to buy food and give prizes and we have a, so it’s pretty, it really takes care of itself.

Johnathan Glover 00:10:41
So you mentioned the tools. I don’t want to put your age out there if you don’t mind. Are you okay with us saying your age?

Cissy Shull
My age?

Johnathan Glover
Yes ma’am.

Cissy Shull
Go ahead.

Johnathan Glover
So Cissy SHull is 83 years old, right?

Cissy Shull
82.

Johnathan Glover
82, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to give you a year. So how exactly are, who is actually operating these tools? Who is helping maintain the land?

Cissy Shull 00:11:10
Alright, each gardener is responsible for their plot. When you join Charlotte Green you’re given a hoe, a trowel, a watering can and a t-shirt as well as plants and water. Does that answer your question?

Johnathan Glover
No, that answers it perfectly actually. How do the gardens impact the community?

Cissy Shull
Effect the community?

Johnathan Glover
Yes ma’am, how do they impact it?

Cissy Shull
Well I think they really, you know, recently we see a lot of people out and about and they’re asking a lot of times what’s going on. Then we, as I told you, there’s this random company called and said we’d like to do a one day project with Charlotte Green and I said gosh we would love to have our little garden revitalized. It’s a flower garden. And so we have people that call in and then we have several church groups from Myers Park Methodist Church that come in and help during the summertime. And then we also have Myers Park High School group that comes in and like if we get compost for the gardens they’ll send a crew out and help get that compost in the garden. So we try to help the gardeners as much as we can but we also want them to be totally responsible and to enjoy the bounty of their produce. It’s really something that they can grow. That’s wonderful.

Johnathan Glover 00:13:00
That’s good. So when you’re talking about, you mentioned the fertilizer and the soil that are used. So are you advocates of organic or inorganic gardens?

Cissy Shull
Well we really try to push organic. However, however, before organic became an end we certainly use lots of fertilizer. We always, when we bring fertilizer and stuff we bring organic fertilizer. We try. And the gardeners themselves also will go out and get amenities for their soil and stuff. And you know, I don’t know if it’s organic. I would love to say we’re totally organic but I don’t think so.

Johnathan Glover 00:14:01
So you mentioned that people have certain plots. Can you tell us what age range these people range from?

Cissy Shull
Okay. I’m thinking about this group right here is probably from 50 to 85.

Johnathan Glover
And that’s being the youngest to the oldest?

Cissy Shull
Yeah.

Johnathan Glover
Okay. Gotcha.

Cissy Shull
So we have children of some of our senior gardeners who come in and help all the time. And so, I mean, their ages are like 30 and 30 and up. But as far as the gardeners, yeah, maybe 45. I’m trying to think. We’ve got four new gardeners and they are definitely under 50. And this one garden. So maybe I’m going to bring back. 45.

Johnathan Glover
45? Yes ma’am.

Cissy Shull
85.

Johnathan Glover 00:15:07
So do you organize any programs in connection with your gardeners?

Cissy Shull
Well when we get groups that come in, we send out a little post gardener and say, you know, so and so is coming, coming help. I want to add this, when we do have groups that come in, a lot of times the gardeners, it doesn’t matter which garden it is, but all of a sudden, you know, if I’m a group from the church or something, they will bring like watermelon and water and I mean, the gardeners themselves, they, you know, they don’t even have to show up. We’ve got just all these kids running around doing the things. But they, and they love to talk to the gardeners and so it really turns out to be a kind of a gathering. Every time we’ve ever had a group, there’s always been something wonderful that happens.

Johnathan Glover 00:16:04
Thats good. So you also mentioned the fig tree out front with the Boy Scout. Yes. Could you tell us a little bit about that?

Cissy Shull
Well, we had a Boy Scout who, he was a really nice guy, but I felt like that his mother was very interested in him being a Boy Scout. But one of the things he did with his troop is plant four fig trees on the front side of the third garden here at Wilmore. And you wouldn’t believe those figs in the summertime. They are big, they are juicy, they are just wonderful. I don’t know whether I should be telling anybody this, like, on those fig trees. But anyway, nice things have happened, the Boy Scout that I was so worried about. And then he has, you know, not often, but he’s checked in. And so he really did care, and that was a nice happening for me.

Johnathan Glover 00:17:23
So with the fig tree being the topic, what other plants in food are grown here in the gardens?

Cissy Shull
In the summertime, we grow tomatoes, and we still have okra growing here in the fall. We have corn, beans, squash, zucchini. And the wonderful thing, if you don’t know anything about zucchini, is that, believe it or not, zucchini on a good day will be the perfect size of seven inches, let’s say. But if you happen to walk away from that zucchini and come back three days later, it is almost a foot and a half. And one thing we’ve done here is, in the summertime, we make zucchini bread. Some of the board members do. And then we just go around and drop it off at the gardeners. But we are really great zucchini bread makers. So, let’s see. Is that answer that? I asked about flowers and other types of crops.

Johnathan Glover
yeah.

Cissy Shull
Oh, and then flowers. Yes, I do want to say that. This year, we have a group that I’ve worked with called Umar. It is adult-challenged men and women who have joined forces with Charlotte Green. And for the past 12, or 15 years during the summertime, we go to each garden. And there are designated gardens in some of the gardens that we have for the go to Novan Hospice. And so we take those, this little group we go around on Tuesdays, we pick up the produce in the gardens or on picnic tables and then take it over to hospice. And also, some of the gardens have flowers in them and they have and herbs. And we’ve taken rosemary and thyme and parsley and mint over also. So there are other things that we grow besides vegetables. And then, and I didn’t mention in the fall crop, we have the, you know, the broccoli, collards, kale, spinach, cabbage, believe it or not, that is fall. We always seem to think we can grow it in the spring, but that does not work. It’s a fall crop. What else do we have? But during that time, pretty much, I think that’s about it. And then if you’ve got an exotic, like I’m hoping we can go up to McGill Rose Garden because they all, they have exotic plants, different types of spinach and grains and stuff like that. And those gardeners who want to branch out and try something different, planting it and it works.

Johnathan Glover 00:21:08
So you mentioned working with Umar, a man and a woman, for the past 12, 15 years. Are there any other community outreach that you guys participated in?

Cissy Shull
I don’t think so. Pretty much we work mostly with Umar.

Johnathan Glover
So how do you mention that garden that is usually two seasons? How do the gardens work around seasonal change?

Cissy Shull
Well, that’s a great question because going from summer to fall in Charlotte, North Carolina, most of your crops would be gone, your beans, your squash, zucchini, tomatoes are pretty bad. But okra and peppers, they like when the change comes a little bit. Go from that hot to that little cooler. And so we have like the 15th of August, I will send a card out and say it’s time to clean up your gardens. And those people that want to keep their okra and peppers and everything, they have got to be vigilant and make sure because sometimes, and it’s my fault, this fall, we have a wonderful guy who comes and tills all the gardens and he tilled over the peppers and the okra in two gardens. And I’m lucky to be here because that was a terrible thing to happen and I really apologize to this day. But it’s hard sometimes, but when you’re tilling from mid-March to April, with April, this plant day, April 15, everybody wants all that stuff so we really try to keep whatever is left over in the gardens in the wintertime until it all in because that really gives that nutrients, soil good nutrients.

Johnathan Glover 00:23:42
Okay. So with all of these plants being out here, do you all ever deal with animals ever coming into the fence and taking food?

Cissy Shull
As you see there, we have bunny rabbits, we have had mice and we have had rats and not this year was pretty good. We really have worked on putting extra wire fencing around the bunny rabbits and actually I heard no complaints here. Now when we go to Irwin Creek, they not only came in there, they very smartly came up through the wire mesh and got into the gardens and ate the first crop that was not even in the ground. They were in their flats getting ready to be put in the ground and we had to go get some more. We weren’t very vigilant over there but anyway it all worked out, got a new crop in and it was great. But yes, we have problems. We don’t have deer.

Johnathan Glover
No deer?

Cissy Shull
No deer.

Johnathan Glover
We are in the city. I will hope not.

Cissy Shull
If a deer jumps one of these fences, I am quitting.

Johnathan Glover 00:24:57
So you say how the animals cause some complaints. Are there any other complaints that may arise at these gardens?

Cissy Shull
We have, yes. I mean if you are serious about this, yes. We have in the past, we have had gardeners that have gone into other gardeners and gardens and taken produce. We have had to address that. Not often but it happens. We have had at least 1991 to 2000, we had people break in and take the tiller. We have had vandalism. But in the last ten years, we have had no vandalism.

Johnathan Glover
That’s good.

Cissy Shull
Yeah.

Johnathan Glover
So with that being said like, how are they, is everybody pretty much open to the fact that they have their own set spaces?

Cissy Shull
Yes. They are also very vigilant. I think everybody really respects, especially this garden. They really respect and well I think all the gardens. Actually that was a bad statement. All of these gardens really do respect. But it really took quite a while for some gardeners to realize that they just couldn’t go into others garden. And I think the fact that they are all getting to know each other better and they are all great friends now. So I just hope it keeps going.

Johnathan Glover
So it seems like the gardens bring a strong sense of community to the community?

Cissy Shull
We think so. Yeah, and certainly people in the neighborhoods, they really do respect the garden. They respect the head gardeners and it’s really nice. I’m lucky. I’m lucky. And Tim Turton asked me one time, “How does this work?” I said, “I have absolutely no idea except I think everybody was interested in gardening first but getting to know their friends, their neighbors.” One thing when we started, we found that these neighborhoods are deeply religious but nobody went to church in town, in their neighborhood. They would all go to church other ways. So nobody knew anybody because there was no sort of central place. And I do think if I can give credit to Charlotte Green, I think we brought some good friends together.

Johnathan Glover 00:28:13
Could you tell us how the communities look before Charlotte Green entered the space?

Cissy Shull
Well for example, there was a house where that third garden is right behind you. The vagrants lived in. This was vacant. There was a home here at some point but this was vacant and this was the property that the city and the gentleman that owned the property said we could use. We don’t pay to use these lands. We just get permission and it works out well.

Johnathan Glover
So are there like, when you are like… So you said how people walk by. Somebody is usually getting a car. People are providing educational tips about how…

Cissy Shull
Well if they want and in the summertime, there’s one of those tables up there. If there’s extra produce, the two guys I want you to meet, Eric and Craig, they’ll put the table out and put produce and some people that are walking by and get a nice ripe tomato or squash or something like that. You will not believe the produce that comes out of these gardens. It’s phenomenal. And it’s a lot.

Johnathan Glover 00:30:05
So right now we’re in a greenhouse. Ironically that was going to be my next question about how are there any other spaces used in the garden besides just the garden itself?

Cissy Shull
Oh, the greenhouses.

Johnathan Glover
Yes, ma’am.

Cissy Shull
Yeah, that’s right. Well this has these two wonderful greenhouses. The city and Charlotte Green partnered with, I think it was in… I don’t know when it was. And these two greenhouses are pretty much storage, pretty much a year. We get most of our early plants from the McAllister’s and we bring them all into this greenhouse and keep them watered and then we distribute them to each of the gardens. If a gardener wants to put something else in, that’s terrific. And we encourage them to try different things. Go over to McGill Rose Garden and find some exotic plants you’d like to try. See what happens. You know, there’s some cucumbers that will be like, there’s a Vietnamese cucumber that’s about this long. And it’s delicious. But you’ve got to have a lot of land or a nice fence. But we encourage trying things like that. And we have, in the past we have had fundraisers, we grew pansies and then we had a little sale out for the neighbor who just put a sign out there and said, “We’ve done things like that.” Not too often. It’s a pretty individualized gardening experience. It would be fun to do lots of that stuff.

Johnathan Glover 00:31:52
So with it being individualized, do they ever come together and do a community event just giving out food?

Cissy Shull
Well you know, when we do give the hospice, the extra produce and everything, an interesting thing, you brought that up. A lot of these gardeners will take around to neighbors here who are infirmed or something, extra produce. And that is one thing I think is really wonderful that they have embraced their neighborhoods so much that they continually, they give what they’ve got to other people.

Johnathan Glover
That’s good. So earlier in the interview you mentioned how the gardens, you talked about food deserts, how do these gardens help with the food desert?

Cissy Shull
Well of course in the summertime and around Thanksgiving, a great, great deal. As I said, gardeners that have extra produce help those that are infirmed. So I don’t know, I just think it all works.

Johnathan Glover 00:33:18
That’s understandable. So with all of that being said, now that we know where all of the gardens are, do y’all ever think y’all are going to expand to other gardens?

Cissy Shull
Well I’m hoping when I retire that a young person will take it over. It’s a concept I think that came at the right time and I’m hoping that, I see what Tim Turton’s doing with Park and Rec. They’re always expanding gardens. People are always wanting one. So I’m hoping that we could incorporate with them or there will be some good young blood that are going to, I would love to expand. I think it might be harder now because how we acquired land was, we called the city, the city brought out a map and they said, “Well here’s Wilmore. Let’s see who, you know, these are all owned by people that live in Baltimore or New York or something. Let’s contact them and see if they’d be willing to, if you like it.” So we would go, we would get some of the ladies that had signed up for to garden. I said, “Well let’s go look at these properties. Where would you like to garden?” This was one of the ones that they picked. And so I think that worked.

Johnathan Glover 00:35:00
So what do you think with your time as, what’s your position again here with Community Green? Sorry, I meant to ask you that.

Cissy Shull
What’s my position? Well, if I have to, you know, be official, I am an executive director. I can’t believe it. Our minister asked us, “What is your position?” I said, “Believe it or not, I’m the executive director.” That’s what they put on the P. You know, we had to sign papers and do all these kind of things to start the organization. But I’m just a gardener.

Johnathan Glover
Just a gardener?

Cissy Shull
I am just a gardener. I have learned more from the gardeners than I had ever known in my life. And I thought I was pretty good. Anyway, they just have wisdom and they know about things, simple things like if you’re going to plant a tomato, you put a little bit of lime. It comes in a powder form. You just put a little tiny bit of lime in the bottom and then you break the little dirt and roots and stick it down in there deep and you will never have, you know, on tomatoes, sometimes it has rot. You know, you have a tomato, it looks great on the top and then rot. You will never have, I mean, little things. Marigolds, keep bugs away. I mean, all these little tips that I knew nothing about and I learned from, not me, I learned from them.

Johnathan Glover 00:36:30
So as, what other things have you learned over the time as executive gardener over gardens?

Cissy Shull
One thing I’ve really learned is these neighborhoods have the most wonderful people. And I mean, we have been in some unusual situations in some of these neighborhoods. They were very, I don’t know what you call it. Well, they were iffy and you had wonderful women and men in these neighborhoods who wanted to make sure their neighborhoods survived and they have. These neighborhoods are wonderful. I’m lucky, you know, because I’ve gotten to know wonderful people a lot better than me and real survivors and just very family oriented is great. Great.

Johnathan Glover 00:37:45
So if we’ve been on these things, what are your thoughts on the community gardens?

Cissy Shull
I think they’re very important. I think they’re very important to a neighborhood. I think they encourage getting to know people. Do you know that there are people in this world that don’t want to know anybody that they’re they won’t reach out? Gardening brings people together. It’s a great learning tool and it’s a great. It’s just been great for me and my family. They’ve all watched my boys grow up and now they’re their children are helping and this is the same for the gardeners. We’ve got three generations of gardeners. You know, you know, we’re all getting to know each one. Charlotte’s a wonderful town and I mean, I have loved it from the day I came down from New Jersey and it’s just it’s just been wonderful. And being a part of Charlotte Green has maybe feel like, yes, I made the right choice, you know, coming down here to Charlotte and I have met the greatest people in the world.

Johnathan Glover 00:39:16
So what do you have to say to those who want to get into gardening but don’t know how to?

Cissy Shull
Very simply, if as far as Charlotte Green, if you live in one of the neighborhoods in Willmore, Irwin Creek, Southside, Searsville, if you and Genesis Park, if you live in one of those neighborhoods and would like to garden, we would love to. I can put you in charge and touch with the head gardener and if there’s spots available, fine. And the other is to call Park and Rec and Tim Turton. He can put you, he’s in a lot more neighborhoods than we are. So, and he can really put you on some good gardening.

Johnathan Glover
And with that being said, how do you feel about gardening?

Cissy Shull
I am the luckiest person in the world. I have loved every man in the world and you guys have been very nice to me and I would love to show you the rest of the gardens.

Johnathan Glover
We can definitely take a look at it. Okay. So, this has been our interview with Sissy Shull and this will conclude our interview and Charlotte Greens. Thank you.

Johnathan Glover 00:40:26
What do you think about the future of Charlotte Greens?

Cissy Shull
Well, I think the gardens will continue with or without Charlotte Greens. I would love to have Charlotte Greens commit to each of these neighborhood gardens if it works out. I mean, young people need to get involved. And because of my age, I think it would be absolutely wonderful to get young people, especially more people who are young in the gardens, to do things like one time we made soup. We just used the community center made soup and delivered it to the shut-ins in Wilmore. I mean, young people have great ideas of what you can do with a project. I’m afraid I’m getting old. So I’m hoping that young people could continue on and really make it, if it turns out that there will be people in Wilmore that want to take this whole thing over, perfect. If park and rec, that would be great. But I’m really hoping that a young person is going to come into our church and say, “I want to do this.” You would think that it looks like $15,000 a year. Do you need a lot of — what can you do? You can do a lot with $15,000, but you need a hands-on person. And that’s what I’m hoping is going to happen. And I hope our board of directors will find that person.

Johnathan Glover 00:42:45
How many of the board of directors are there?

Cissy Shull
I think there are 23. I think I’ve got you in that list. I’m not too sure. But they’re great. We’ve been really lucky. We have — I will tell you this. When I commend my board of directors, you would think, “Oh, what do you do?” Well, this last Helene hurricane that came through, a tree fell on the Seversville Garden from the neighbor. And so I have somebody that said they would love to get that tree out of there. Well, it’s a big tree. And we went over there the other day, and there was this two men that were standing there looking at it and everything. And asked — I don’t think they spoke. Well, we could not communicate. So I kind of looked, “Are you here to chop the tree down?” And they said, “Yes.” And I thought, “What is going on here?” Well, a board of directors called me and said Malcolm Graham, who is a commissioner in that area, is up near Johnson C. Smith. He says he’s going to get that tree out of there. And I thought, “You know, we could never have done that.” And so our board, they’re always, you know, keeping us alive and keeping us to survive. And hopefully that will work. People like that are just — we’re lucky. We are so lucky. 00.44.45

Johnathan Glover
So are the other board members just as active as you are in the garden?

Cissy Shull
Oh, you wouldn’t believe it. And they love to say, “Well, I’m doing all the work.” Well, you know, we have, you know, bushes we have to get rid of. We have letters that have to be written. We have minutes. We have, you know, get our little tax thing, tax bracket. We’ve got to get that all organized. We — everybody has a job. And I did not mention this, but at the end of the year, at Christmas time, we started this in 19 — maybe ’91 or ’92, the original. But we felt that these neighborhoods were being neglected. And so we gave each of the gardeners a gift certificate from Food Lines to help everybody through Christmas. And we still do that. And it really — it means a lot to a lot of these gardeners. I know a lot of people can’t imagine, you know, something like that. But we like to help out when we can. Is that fine?