Community Harvest

As a small child growing up in New York City, BETTINA MASSCHAELE was enamored with “The Care Bears’ Garden,” a book about nurturing a garden in an urban space. 

In a full-circle moment last October, Masschaele became the volunteer manager of Wilmington’s Diversity Garden, a community garden at the corner of Castle and 10th streets.  

“The whole point is to provide food for the community,” she says, “with a focus on people who are food insecure, and to show people how easy it is to garden and how important it is to have healthy food on your plate.” 

The lot comprises twelve raised beds spanning about one-fourth of an acre, and it includes a greenhouse and two picnic tables.  

The Diversity Garden grows a variety of vegetables, including collards, broccoli, kale, and peas, along with fruits in season such as strawberries and blueberries. It also features herbs such as  cilantro, parsley, and oregano.  

The garden began in 2017 as an initiative of the Wilmington Sportsmen’s Club in collaboration with DAVID BRENNER, the founder of Wilmington Green, Masschaele says, adding that they named the space the Diversity Garden to attract people from all backgrounds.

As a volunteer-run community garden, anything that is grown is available to all community members. Masschaele says sometimes visitors seek the garden’s harvest, but frequently, she gives it away. She regularly gives fruits, vegetables, and herbs to the Northside Food Co-op’s bimonthly community dinners. 

The Diversity Garden also partners with Dreams Center for Arts Education, donating bags of collards, kale, radishes, and other vegetables from the garden for use in their cooking classes. Additionally, Masschaele gives out bags of vegetables to Dreams’ participants.  

A variety of groups and volunteers of all ages tend the Diversity Garden. Williston Middle School’s Garden Club volunteers at the garden twice per week during the warmer months, and volunteers with the Roasted Bookery’s Garden Club help tend the garden and take care of the space.  

“With a community garden, it’s amazing how many people you get to meet,” Masschaele says. “I’ve met a lot of good friends by being part of the garden.” 

Her involvement with local gardening began as a volunteer coordinator at Willowdale Farms for five years, where she organized volunteers and facilitated school field trips to Willowdale. Masschaele continues to help tend the Willowdale garden as well as Novant Health’s community garden on Physicians Drive. 

After stepping down as volunteer coordinator at Willowdale, Masschaele still wanted to work with Wilmington’s community gardens. In October, DOLORES WILLIAMS at Community Enrichment Initiative Inc. (CEII), asked her to become the manager of the Diversity Garden as a volunteer. CEII is a nonprofit that focuses on supporting community gardens through grant funding. 

In her management role, Masschaele does a little bit of everything to keep the Diversity Garden blooming. “With volunteer help, I plant, water, weed, fertilize, and compost it,” she says, adding that she coordinates volunteers and teaches them how to tend to the space. 

Outside of gardening, Masschaele is a pediatric registered nurse and provides home health care to children with complex medical needs. She says she appreciates how gardening allows her “to watch something grow and then be able to give it away, knowing that it will help somebody.” 

In the future, Masschaele would love to see the Diversity Garden expand and serve more people in the community. “I would love to put in more raised beds, more freestanding containers, and grow more food,” she says. “I would also like it to be a place where we offer more volunteer experiences for kids and teens.”  

The Diversity Garden and Willowdale Farm work in close collaboration, she says, and anyone interested in volunteering with the Diversity Garden may contact her through Willowdale Farm’s Facebook page. 

The rewards of tending the garden, she said, are manifold. “Gardening is therapeutic,” she says. “You put in a lot of work and then you get to see the benefits of it.” 

To view more of photographer Madeline Gray’s work, go to madelinegrayphoto.com.

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