OUR STORY
Green Acre Community Garden is located at the corner of Rosa Parks Blvd and 12th Avenue in the 4th ward in Paterson, New Jersey. It was founded in 2015 by long-time Paterson resident Deacon Willie Davis with the mission of growing culturally relevant food for the local community. A native of North Carolina, Deacon Davis comes from a family of sharecroppers and has been farming in rural and urban spaces for over 60 years. Under the leadership of Deacon Davis, Green Acre has been transformed from an underutilized lot to a vibrant, green space producing life-giving food. Through our farm stands, garden tours, educational programming, and seasonal events, we strive to create a green oasis in the heart of Paterson where people have access to fresh foods, connect with nature, and build community.
In 2018, Green Acre Community Garden was officially granted non-profit status and in 2020, it formed an all-volunteer Organizing Committee, many of whom have deep ties to Paterson. We are continuously working to expand our programs, develop partnerships, and reach even more Patersonians.
Our mission and vision
Mission: Green Acre Community Garden is an urban farm dedicated to providing nutritious and fresh produce, empowering local residents in Paterson to dismantle food injustices, supporting community-engaged learning opportunities for children, youth, adults, and elders, and creating a green oasis for the broader community.
Vision: Green Acre Community Garden envisions a just and equitable food system in which local residents have dignified access to nutritious and healthy food, take back control of how food is produced and consumed, and health disparities are eliminated. We envision our city to be a hub for green spaces and hands-on learning opportunities for children with initiatives led by young people. We envision our community to be empowered and enriched through gardening and nutrition education while honoring the ancestral farming traditions of African Americans.
About Deacon Willie Davis
March 2017 - Deacon Willie Davis grew up on his parents' sharecropper farm in North Carolina, but headed north at the age of 18. Now 67, he's happy to be sharecropping again --- in the heart of Paterson. On a corner plot of land owned by Paterson Habitat at the intersection of 12th Avenue and Rosa Parks Boulevard, Deacon Davis has cultivated a community garden that produced 1,500 pounds of vegetables for neighborhood families last year. And his goal is 2,500 pounds this year. Deacon Davis started the garden in 2015 with the help of the City Green organization and the cooperation of Paterson Habitat.
His garden is blooming as a source of community pride as well as nutritious food. Neighborhood kids come there to help and to learn the nuances of making things grow. The deacon is a master at that, and the hard work he puts in at the community garden 12 months a year is one of his great joys. "When I work in the dirt, I don't wear gloves," he says. . "I love the feel of it. It makes me feel 25 years old and I thank God for it." A member of the Power of Praise Church in Paterson, he's never lost his fascination with the miracle of food growing up out of the earth. He helps that miracle along in the garden's raised wooden beds where he grows turnip greens, collard greens, bell peppers, garlic and many other vegetables. A perfectionist, he drives all the way to North Carolina to get seedlings for what he calls "country corn". He has some young cherry trees under cultivation, and his dream is that the garden will someday be a gathering spot where people of different races and backgrounds come to grow plants and get to know each other. "In the next few years," he says exuberantly. "This place is going to be full of joy and love."