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Joeleen Davis: Cultivating Community Through Generosity

by | Jul 2024

ON SIX acres tucked into the countryside of Lebanon, Joeleen Davis’ garden is a lush oasis. With her hands covered in rich soil and a spirit as generous as the summer sun, she cultivates an abundance of vegetables and herbs. Her raised-bed garden, a tapestry of greens, reds, and yellows, is more than a hobby. When the grocery store shelves were bare during the COVID-19 pandemic, her bountiful garden was her way of nurturing others. 

Every week, and sometimes several times a week, Davis would harvest baskets of ripe tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, crisp cucumbers, hot and sweet peppers, squash, sweet potatoes, and fragrant herbs like thyme, basil, and oregano. Instead of selling her abundance at the community farmers market for a profit, she harvested them to feed five neighboring families. Davis’ deliveries were a cornucopia of health and flavor — a testament to her powerful belief in sharing nature’s bounty and loving your neighbor as yourself. Her kindness turned strangers into friends, and her garden became a thread that wove the community closer together. 

“I grew up food-deprived in low-income housing or apartments as a child,” said Davis. “If it weren’t for friends, I wouldn’t have had lunch many days in school. There’s a lot of shame with hunger when there shouldn’t be. I watched COVID-19 clear grocery shelves, and the food chain broke apart by not being able to produce it or deliver it to our stores. Things as simple as flour were unattainable. On the news, I saw lines of cars waiting in the food pantry lines at our local churches — people who, weeks before, would never have dreamed this would be them. And there we were, isolated, with limited access to food here in America. I felt a click inside me that had a drive behind it. I was suddenly focused on backyard gardening.”

Even though she’d suffered a debilitating spinal injury followed by two surgeries, Davis, who is a master gardener, knew that she and her husband, Doug, would step up to ensure others continued to have access to nutritious, fresh foods.

“Sometimes, someone would pick up a bushel of tomatoes and share them with their neighbors. Sometimes, they’d pick up extra plants and share those too. And sometimes, a mom would bring her kids over to pick cherry tomatoes, squash, and okra. Helping isn’t always just feeding a family. Helping is also sharing the joy of growing your food. Teaching a family how to plant a seed is just as rewarding to me as handing them a paper bag full of green beans. And to do all of this without shame is just another part of lifting each other up and loving your neighbor.”

Tomatoes are Davis’ favorite to grow and give. “The joy on someone’s face when you give them a fresh-from-the-vine tomato is such happiness for me. More importantly, it’s the possibility of what you can do with a few tomatoes — eat them fresh, roasted, make sauce, chili, pizza, soup, or salsa. You could can them, freeze them, dehydrate them, or even make tomato powder with their skins. I feel tomatoes are the most valuable universal harvest you can grow. Their possibilities are endless.”

Joeleen’s husband, Doug, grew up gardening, so it’s second nature to him. But she took up gardening in 2010 and transitioned four years ago to raised-bed gardens following her spinal surgeries.

“I had a significant back injury that changed my entire life. I can’t do the things I used to do, although my mind thinks otherwise. It’s so frustrating. It took a long time for me to reinvent myself. Gardening found me. There’s happiness and purpose in that soil. Everyone has challenges. You can either accept them as your story or only as one chapter — I chose one chapter.”

Joeleen and Doug affectionately named their farm “Wine Cottage Gardens.” Here, they teach gardening and host garden tours. They also teach students how to grow their own gardens through the Wilson County Master Gardeners.

“PBS featured my garden on the ‘Volunteer Gardener’ twice, and I’ve been a guest on the ‘Live Happy Now’ podcast. But I feel my biggest accomplishment is teaching a new gardener how to grow their own food. Watching them develop their abilities and get excited each time a new leaf emerges, and then wanting to do it all over again the next season — well, that’s the legacy I hope to leave.” GN

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