By Dianne Anderson

Anyone who can work a set of pruning shears, pull up weeds or just water the plants can sink their teeth into free organic fruits and veggies come harvest time at the new Sisters We Community Gardening Projects now pushing up to full bloom.

Volunteers who till the land will get a break on their grocery bill, and take home the lion’s share of the fruit it bears.

In the food desert where she is located at 8th and D Street, that’s no small offering.

Nedra Myricks said there is not one real grocery store within five miles, and the closest one, Food 4 Less, is in downtown San Bernardino. Eventually, her goal is to offer a full-on Farmers Market experience.

“There’s a little convenience store where they can get beer, cigarettes and wine,” said Myricks, executive president of the Muscoy-based nonprofit. “This will be a source where people can walk or drive by to pick up fresh organic fruits and vegetables, plus we are planning a line of jams and olive oils.

With their new one-fourth acre garden, they have installed planters of about a dozen different kinds of vegetables, along with a section for corn. The project for the community as part of their mission is to make sure that the neighborhood has healthy organic food options. There’s no charge for the volunteers.

But for those not willing to roll up their sleeves, she cautions the garden is blocked off with a fence and a gate because in the past they have had issues with theft.

Some stole plants, some stole trees. Some took advantage of the water, doing their laundry out in the open air.

“It’s not accessible for some walking in off the street, we have had so much damage. We had to put a lock on our water meter because people go in and use the water. Our water bill tripled for a couple of months before we figured out what was going on.”

Coming up on May 20, the program is holding its “sound bath” fundraiser, an ancient holistic healing method with chimes, tongs and metal bowls. The event will be held at San Bernardino Valley College campus, where they also work with one of the art classes that is helping create a sculpture and mosaic for the garden. Through grant support, the student whose work is selected will get $750.

The money raised from the fundraiser will help support the community garden, buy more trees and seeds, pay the water bills, lighting and associated costs.

So far, she is excited by the level of interest from people all over the community. Volunteers haven’t been hard to get.

“Luckily for us, our Mayor Helen Tran is very supportive of this project. She herself is a gardener. At our Arbor Day celebration, she and her father were very impressed and said they will be back to put in some volunteer [time],” she said.

Local elementary and high schools have also contacted her organization. Some need volunteer hours to graduate, and they meet regularly on Saturdays. She said the community seems to appreciate what they’re doing. Their last event pulled volunteers from Amazon and Southern California Edison.

It’s a project that is learning how to survive the odds. With their first garden in Muscoy, she had leased a private property that was blighted, full of trash and weeds. The program cleaned it up, planted 30 trees with a variety of produce, but the owner opted out of renewing the lease after three years.

Today, that property is once again full of weeds and blight.

With the help of the family, two are her sisters, she said that all have a part to play in how the garden grows. They are also especially proud of their first downtown project where she turned a brick wall on 4th Street into a garden that is now a time-honored space for special events, taking birthday and graduation pictures.

“People enjoy it and love it, we’re really proud of that, it’s all succulents. The property owner asked us to install a garden, and together we came up with that design and it seemed to work. We call that our baby,” she said.

She also wants the community to know how easy it is to grow their own good food, even in small spaces in pots on the back patio. Not long ago, she helped homeowners start their first gardens in Corona and Rancho Cucamonga. She got the soil tests to ensure safety, she helped them pick out the trees and plants that would grow best for their locations.

The program also hosts workshops to let the community know they don’t need a big yard to get started. She has a back porch herb garden, and even small spaces can produce a decent crop.

At her own home, she removed grass in the front yard to help with water conservation, and instead, she put in an edible garden of collards, bell peppers and tomatoes.

She said it’s a beautiful presentation, and the soil and lighting were all perfect to grow.

“I planted them in my front yard. At least once a week we have something with collard greens, I even put them in omelets,” she said. “I was growing roses there for a while, but I can’t eat roses.”

For more information on the fundraiser, or to volunteer, see  https://sisterswe.com/