As many of you may know, The Nashville Food Project stewards a portion of Mill Ridge Park as the Community Farm at Mill Ridge, as space that currently hosts about 80 community garden participant families that are able to elect from individual plots or communal gardening opportunities! Monthly training in four languages creates spaces for learning and plots hold vibrant patches of green with produce selections reflective of the gardener’s culture, tastes, and preferences.
Now entering into our third growing season in this incredible space, our partnership with Friends of Mill Ridge Park (FMRP) has been essential in the continued success of TNFP’s efforts to create infrastructure and land access opportunities for folks to grow their own food in the South East Nashville area. If you’ve been out to the farm you will notice rows and rows of carefully tended young fruit trees as you turn off of Old Hickory Boulevard. As we celebrate the ways that our work is intertwined with other types of environmental justice work happening in Nashville, we wanted to invite Friends of Mill Ridge’s Executive Director, Darrell Hawks, to share more about this burgeoning oasis.
Can you share a little about yourself and your work with Friends of Mill Ridge?
While completing my MBA at Belmont University, I worked to develop and operate social enterprise employing people after incarceration. Outside of work, I spent much of my time in the outdoors and became more aware of the exclusivity of the outdoors. With motivation to “open the outdoors,” in 2018 I began new work as founding executive director of Friends of Mill Ridge Park. FMRP is an Antioch-based nonprofit with a mission to enhance and advocate for Mill Ridge Park to strengthen the community in Southeast Davidson County. We operate at Mill Ridge Park as an official partner to the Nashville Department of Parks & Recreation. Through our work, we create outdoor experiences (in the areas of education, recreation, and conservation) for people lacking sufficient access to the outdoor and outdoor services.
For those aren’t familiar with Mill Ridge Park, can you share a little about the space as a whole?
Mill Ridge Park is 650 acres (mostly undeveloped) of woodlands, grasslands, and historic farmlands. Located in Antioch, off of I24 and nearby Cane Ridge High School, it’s a Nashville Regional Park, soon to be developed with park amenities and facilities to serve our fast-growing community in southeast Davidson County. The masterplan, developed with community involvement, can be seen online.
I saw that Friends recently celebrated surpassing their 100th fruit tree planted at Mill Ridge Park, not far from the Community Farm that TNFP stewards! Congrats! Can you share how increased fruit tree presence became a priority in the bigger vision for the Mill Ridge green space?
The orchard, included in the master plan for Mill Ridge Park, creates opportunities for FMRP to engage the community to advance our mission. By involving the coming in the creation and care of the orchard, we generate regular experiences in outdoor education, recreation, and conservation… all while improving the air and water quality and food access in our community. Additionally, the placement of the orchard will serve to buffer the sound of nearby traffic.
What types of trees have been added to the space? Are there varieties you are personally excited about?
There are a variety of apple, pear, plum, persimmon, and cherry trees that make up the orchard currently. I’m excited about the cherry trees and the possibility of pawpaw trees, which I’m learning about from Tennessee natives.
The Nashville Food Project’s work at the Community Farm at Mill Ridge is intimately connected with the work of Metro Parks and Friends of Mill Ridge among countless other relationships and interdependent efforts. We love examining the way that varied efforts in Nashville intertwine for mutual goals and visions. Can you share some of the folks who have been essential to creating this expanding orchard at Mill Ridge?
To create and grow the orchard at Mill Ridge Park, we’ve enjoyed partnering with the Cumberland River Compact, Root Nashville, Hands On Nashville, plus a variety of other community and corporate partners.
When you think about the orchard in 5 and 10 years, how do you imagine the presence of fruit trees will positively impact the space?
The site alone of an orchard signifies a cared-for space, and in this case of a public orchard we have a cared-for community! It’s even more special that it’s community generated! In the coming years, our park will be beautified by the presence of the orchard, blooming and fruiting throughout the seasons. It will bring our community together for the service of pruning and picking, for the learning about conservation, for the celebration of eating and sharing! And it won't end at the park exit; the orchard will serve as inspiration for some to go back to their own, greenspaces to grow and care and share.
My family and I recently attended Kite Fest hosted by Friends of Mill Ridge! It was wonderful and my toddler is still talking about it! What ways can people connect with Friends upcoming events or volunteer opportunities?
We share about upcoming activities at Mill Ridge Park at friendsofmillridgepark.org and on our social sites (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter). We also invite the community to share ideas and requests for experiencing Mill Ridge Park. Happening these days, we have outdoor yoga, park meditations, outside cinema, birding and plant walks, and others.
Speaking of trees, did you catch our Instagram Live conversation with Root Nashville? Tree canopy enthusiast Meg Morgan joined TNFP’s Community Engagement Manager Elizabeth Langgle-Martin to talk all things trees, environmental justice, food access, and our interdependent work for healthy ecosystems, neighborhoods, communities and people. Click HERE to watch and listen.
