Grow Forth and Prosper

People who eat fruit and vegetables as part of their daily diet are generally less likely to suffer from chronic diseases than those who tend to ignore them.

Vegetables are important part of healthy eating and provide a source of many nutrients, including potassium, fiber, folate and vitamins A, E and C. Foods like spinach, tomatoes, broccoli and garlic provide additional benefits, making them a superfood.

Anyone who grows and eats their own vegetables will tell you the work is well worth it, and Cynthia Green with Gonzales Healthcare Systems shares the same sentiments.  Green has spearheaded an undertaking that demands good old-fashioned work and yields nutritional benediction.

Green — a registered and licensed dietician and international board-certified lactation consultant — is on a mission to spread the word about the benefits of cultivating and preparing healthy, homegrown food. And after building a garden for her former clients at the Gonzales Community Health Center, Green’s latest project has expanded to a two-acre lot behind Gonzales Memorial Hospital— a field that will soon provide fresh, nutritious vegetables for the folks of Gonzales.

Green said she plans to begin work on the garden on the evening of July 16— starting off by knocking out the weeds and grass. After that, the community is welcome to come out and do whatever they can to help the garden come to fruition.

“All of this stems from multiple assessments that have been done in the community,” Green said. “They looked at ways to improve health in the community, and we got the idea of creating a garden.”

After she went to work in December, Cynthia began participating in different groups that use strategic planning. As a member of the Noon Lion’s Club, she approached members about the garden, as well as those on the school health advisory council. At the end of the last school year the council gave Green a report to the Texas Legislature from the Interagency Obesity Council. In the report was a recommendation of a community garden.

“I found it interesting that there are so many different avenues recommending the same thing in our community,” Green said. “Improving people’s health outcomes from a lot of different angles.”

Green mentioned that community gardens have been part of a trend for the last five years, but not just in rural areas— they’re blossoming in the big cities as well.

“Research shows that community gardens give people access to healthy food,” she said. “So we’ve put a foundation group together that’s going to work on the planning part of the garden.”

However, Green discussed the fact since it’s going to be a community project, the community is expected to help out by rolling up their sleeves and digging their green thumbs into the tilled soil.

“We’re definitely going to need community buy-in to make this thing work,” she said. “They have to want this too— this can’t just be something that us as health professionals or people from different groups that do all these assessments. We’re going to need people out there planting things and pulling a few weeds; everybody working together. That’s what community means.”

Green said the reason she wants to use the full two acres for a garden is simply to be able to provide more food for more people.

“If we want it to be beneficial to a large group of people, then it’s going to have to be a large project. And by getting the word out, maybe we can get larger groups of people involved.”

Green also said she’s interested in getting places like churches and nursing homes involved; even finding a way to channel community service.

“We’re tossing some of those ideas around,” she said. “Scouts, social studies students, possibly 4H and youth center kids.”

From a financial perspective, the planning group is looking into things like grants and donations— as well as providing transportation for those who will need a ride to the garden.

“It’s not like it’s in walking distance from our poorer sections in town,” she said. “So how can we get those people here? We want to be able to cover a lot of area to make it accessible to everybody in the community.

“As far as I know, there’s never been a community garden in Gonzales,” Green said. “So it’s really a learning process for us all, and I’m looking forward to the community getting involved and people getting what they need to live a healthy life.”