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Labor of love | How the Pleasant Hill community garden is bringing neighbors together

Close to downtown Macon, a group of neighbors are growing relationships along with fresh vegetables

MACON, Ga. — The Pleasant Hill neighborhood is trying to help people bond over dirt and seeds with a community garden.

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"We thought that we would start a community garden to try and put the elderly together with young people so we would be able to let them know what our plans were for the community. We wanted it to represent the community itself, that’s why there’s no fencing, we’ve never had a fence around the garden. We wanted people to know that it belonged to them," said Peter Givens, the president of the Pleasant Hill Neighborhood Improvement Group.

"Pleasant Hill is still Pleasant Hill. It’s about understanding who you are and where you came from, understanding about helping your neighbor because when I was a kid, everyone had a little 8 foot by 8 foot garden on the side of the house or in the back. Whatever they grew, their neighbors might have grown something else and we would pass stuff back and forth. So it was the sharing – and that was part of that Pleasant Hill state of mind. That sharing, that caring about other people in the community," said Givens.

There are also individual garden plots available for rent in Pleasant Hill. Click here for the garden's contact information if you're interested in a plot.

You can hear more about community gardens in Pleasant Hill and surrounding areas at our Macon Food Story wrap up event, Improving Food Access and Health, Thursday, May 9 at 6 p.m. at the Rosa Jackson Recreation Center in Macon.

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