July 1, 2003
A UMNS and UMC.org Feature
by Ray Waddle

The soil at Camp Dogwood is blooming again with fresh vegetables and new hope - the hope of becoming a national model of hunger relief, agricultural renewal and community uplift.

Camp Dogwood, a historic rural tract of 250 acres near Nashville, Tenn., is being worked into farmland that will serve as a fresh-food supply link to low-income urban neighborhoods - and a business opportunity to youngsters.

Produce raised there this summer - as much as 40 tons - will be brought to town and sold at makeshift farmers' markets at two United Methodist churches.

The aim is to revive neighborhood economies that lack grocery stores and vital businesses by linking unused farmland and urban need.

"We're on our way: We have 1,500 tomato plants in the ground, 3,000 feet of potatoes, 100 hills of squash, 600 feet of cucumbers," says the Rev. Thomas Henderson, the United Methodist minister who is executive director of Camp Dogwood.

"And we have markets set up for underserved communities that don't have access to fresh produce. The church is in a position to step forward to lift up those local economies."

Dogwood is seen as a piece in the bigger picture of food sustainability - that is, the promotion of local agriculture, community gardens and small-scale farmers' markets to generate local farm productivity and reliable neighborhood access to nutritional food.

The camp hopes to yield other fruit: Release the entrepreneurial business spirit in young people. Organizers plan to expose inner-city youngsters to the land, teach them to raise crops there, and price and sell the produce at markets in town.

Camp Dogwood is owned by the Women's Division of the United Methodist Church and run by Bethlehem Centers of Nashville. Young people who use the Bethlehem community center will visit Dogwood later this summer with the aim of building new relationships between land and people.

The property already has a historic place in modern Methodism. Dogwood, with roots going back to the late 1920s, was the first location in Middle Tennessee for African-American youngsters to attend camp.

Over the last 20 years, circumstances and lack of funding led to neglect of the grounds. Then a couple of years ago, Henderson, based in South Carolina at the time, was invited to revitalize Dogwood and refine its mission: Open the camp up again to young people and add an agricultural dimension to help urban neighborhoods.

"I stepped onto (the) grounds and got a look at all that prime bottom land, and within two minutes, I said, 'Yes,'" says Henderson, who has a farming background and has been agricultural consultant for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

Establishing farm production and rehabilitating Dogwood as a youth camp will take money, and one of Henderson's job is fundraising. Next year's goal is to raise $120,000 or more for renovations and for hiring a farm manager. For now, one acre at Dogwood is in food production, and that could soon grow to seven.

Henderson says churches all over the country could take a Dogwood approach - put a little land into productivity (even on church property), create farmers' markets and, beyond that, promote new small businesses in depressed neighborhoods by serving as a base for direct marketing.

"The church is full of volunteers and business people who could help," he says. "I think the potential for Methodist properties is unlimited."

Meanwhile, church volunteers from suburban Nashville were getting their hands dirty at Dogwood in May, cultivating the first acre of produce and spiritually reconnecting with the land.

"It's hard work, but we're having a grand time," says Adrienne Ames, a United Methodist laywoman and hospital administration consultant. "It's exciting to see Dogwood come alive again."

United Methodist News Service
Ray Waddle, former religion editor at The Tennessean newspaper, is a writer and lecturer in Nashville, Tenn.