Durham County's Urban Garden Oasis

Nestled across 45 acres in East Durham – close to Durham Technical Community College – the Briggs Avenue Community Garden is a haven of calm, green, and get-yourhands-dirty fun for everyone!

When you stop by the entrance to the garden, located at 1312 South Briggs Avenue, especially in the spring and summer, but all year – you’ll notice the wonderful smells of fresh produce, spices, flowers, and so much more growing and thriving under the watchful eyes of Durham County Extension Agent Cheralyn Berry and Program Assistant Gaebryl Vives – along with hundreds of local volunteers.

“It really is an oasis,” Berry said. “We are so lucky to have this land in the middle of Durham that will always be here for everyone to enjoy. It will never be high-rise buildings. It will be trees and flowers and gardens of fruits and vegetables. And it will be filled with residents enjoying these things!”

We are so lucky to have this land in the middle of Durham that will always be here for everyone to enjoy.

The land, then valued at $1.35 million, was provided by the Briggs Land Corp., to North Carolina State University. It was then donated by the NC Agricultural Foundation for the use of the Cooperative Extension in 2003. The requirement of the land was that it would be accessible to everyone! It was officially dedicated in 2010 as an agricultural education space.

“Any time you can place 40 acres of green space in an area as urban as this, that’s probably a good thing. It’s a real asset to Durham County,” then-N.C. Cooperative Extension Service Foundation Executive Director David Hays told the Durham Herald-Sun in 2003.

Cheryl L. Lloyd, the Extension’s Director at the time gave a glimpse into the area’s future in 2003 – “What we often do is help (residents) see what types of things can be done in an urban community that will conserve and support the natural landscape.” It will give our youth a chance to do hands-on science projects and get a physical workout, she added.

And she was exactly right, Berry said. “What a wonderful, wonderful thing that was for Durham!”

Today, Briggs Community Garden’s mission is to provide an urban garden for Durham families to affordably grow healthy food, learn about sustainable agriculture, conserve pollinators, build community, and increase food security. The Garden engages citizens of all ages providing free hands-on agriculture education, recreation, and fellowship in a lowstress, supportive environment. We seek to empower citizens with access to agriculture information and production. It is open to the public but seeks to attract resource-limited groups.

The food grown helps those who are growing it, as well as supplying the Durham Tech Pantry.

A quick stroll through the grounds of the main Community Garden and you’ll find just about anything your heart – and stomach – desires. There are cucumbers, okra, peppers from all over the world, collards, tomatoes, beans, and so much more! Flowers line many of the outside fences – flowers that anyone can come and pick for special occasions or to simply liven up their space.

Currently, volunteers are working on an installation that will become a space for people to walk through fruit trees of many varieties.

If you wander to the back, you come upon bee hives. Another corner has a washing station for cleaning the garden’s bounty – which 25 to 30 percent goes to the Durham Technical Community College Harvest Pantry for free distribution to students. Community members who grow their own crops on-site in one of the dozens of plots use it as well. When the college is closed, Bell Yeager Baptist Church gives away food from the pantry.

There are a few rules about what can and can’t be grown by plot owners, as well as your commitment to the garden – and they are posted for everyone to see near the entrance.

The food grown helps those who are growing it, as well as supplying the Durham Tech Pantry. Neither the pantry nor the garden sells any food. It is only grown for the pantry for donation, or we teach people to grow it for themselves as plot owners.

“We pick the best and we pack it up, so it looks just like what you’d get at a high-end grocery store,” Berry says. “And it’s great seeing just how fast it all goes each week at the pantry.” Berry, who joined the Cooperative Extension back in 2015 from Arizona and plans on being here until retirement, has a vision for the future of the space. Already, the garden “pretty much runs itself with the leadership of many, many Master Gardeners and community volunteers from all walks of life in DCo.

“I am the main steward of this land, along with Gaebryl Vives, but everybody, all of us agents use this space for the community,” Berry said. “Adrienne Mauney, 4-H agent, uses it for clubs and youth projects. We have Master Gardeners who are managed by Dr. Ashley Troth and they teach hands-on classes on gardening and orchardry here. That is all done here. John Lyttle is our Ag Agent and he collaborates with NCSU to teach farmers to ready their GAP certification inspections and such here. It gets used by everybody within the Extension!”

Right after Berry points that out, a couple of Durham Tech students wander in. Vives takes them on a tour of the facility. Soon, both are hard at work.

Later, a group of 15 Triangle Homeschoolers of Color have a 4H club that meets once a month at the pavilion, comes in. Berry ushers them around the Garden. They ask questions. They take samples – “But no eating the peppers here!” she warns. Some of the hottest peppers out there – including the Carolina Reaper – fill a big section of the garden. The group makes plans to come back in the winter to learn more about propagation of fruit trees.

“It’s a place to learn,” Berry said. “And, one great thing is, we’ve had years to try things out. You come here, you learn what not to do and not repeat our mistakes, as much as you learn what to do! Our motto is we get better every year!”

Berry then points behind the garden, and to the left and right sides. Where untamed land surrounds the well-maintained and active garden area.

“I see paths where people can come and escape,” she says with a smile. “Whatever it is for that specific person’s needs. That is what is so great about this place. There are just so many different things you can do. My main thing is I want you to have your best time!”

Berry’s eyes light up at the prospect of what is going to happen to the 40 or so acres that have not been used yet and envisions a place for people to take a “forest bath.”

“That’s a hippie term for a forest walk,” she laughs.

“I have another 15 years or so,” she says enthusiastically. “I really want Briggs to be a third place. You know, you have your home, you have your work and you need your third place. There you can develop a community, to serve, to enjoy your life. I want to make this the most beautiful third place that Durham has to offer. It’s a real jewel.”

This spot is also a wonderful resource for Durham County employees to learn about gardening at home. Or get some advice on nutrition. Or maybe you don’t know how to get pollinators attracted to your garden.

How can employees get involved?

“Call me if you want to start a garden or come for a tour, if it is for a workday, you can just show up!” Berry said. “I love that. I love being able to help someone learn how to do it.”

“Any employee, they can volunteer,” she said. “But employees can also take advantage of this wonderful place in so many other ways. They can come for a tour and see what’s here. Ask questions. Get insight from our knowledge base. They can also get in touch with me and come out to have a staff retreat or a team build – away from PowerPoints and Teams meetings! And they may not have thought about it, but employees, they can connect their clients with us!”

Employees can volunteer at the Garden. Every Friday and Saturday morning it is open for anyone to come out and pitch in from the first weekend of March until Thanksgiving. There’s no telling what you might do – dig a ditch, weed, water plants, move dirt, help build a structure, paint, clean, mow the grass – you name it, a task is waiting.

Sound like fun? Contact Cheralyn (she prefers texts!) at (919) 406-4606 or cberry@dconc.gov. Visit the Garden’s webpage here.