Cordell Community Garden ready to spring back into action
Chris Glasscock and Amanda Billings
Three years ago, Chris Glasscock and Amanda Billings began the Cordell Community Garden with the goal of giving back to their community.
Today, Glasscock and Billings have since been able to expand their garden, but their goal has stayed the same throughout.
“Our community helped us out when we were down and out,” Glascock said. “This is just the perfect way to give back.” What started as a small garden in their yard, Glasscock and Billings would soon have to buy land located at East 3rd and Crider dedicated to the garden.
“It’s transformed into what it is today,” Glascock said. “We’re working with it and it’s getting better and better every year.”
Billings also joked that a full refrigerator was the seed that led to them starting the garden as a way to give back.
“We had a garden when we first moved into our house, and we produced so much that we ran out of people to give it to,” Billings said. “We decided, why can’t we grow a garden and give away fresh vegetables to people that can’t afford to go to the grocery store and buy them? So that’s what we did, and it just took off.”
The garden, which is available to all residents free of charge, is home to a vast variety of fruits and vegetables that both Glasscock and Billings tend to throughout the season.
Some of what will be included in the garden this season includes bell peppers, tomatoes, sweet peppers, cucumber, eggplants and many other staples.
While residents are welcome to pick from the garden, they also have the option of planting something of their own if they would like.
“If you want to grow your own vegetables, but you don’t have the room to do it, you can come out and talk to us,” Billings said. “We will find however big of an area that you would need, and till it up for you. You come out, you plant them, and water them.”
Billings and Glasscock describe the garden as one big community project as they have had many people involved in the creation and upkeep of the garden.
People have offered advice, donated money for seeds and equipment, local businesses have provided supplies, and much more has been given to see the garden prosper.
“Every little bit has helped. I can’t even stress that enough,” Glasscock said. “A lot of it’s funded by us, but like I said, it doesn’t really bother us because we love doing it anyway.”
Adding to the community aspect of it all, Glasscock and Billings have also been in talks with Cordell School’s art department in creating a sign for the garden.
“We’ll donate supplies and just let them go wild and create whatever they want and we’ll install it. That way, the community’s involved,” Glasscock said.
The garden’s use has even gone beyond just Cordell, as people from surrounding communities have seen what the Cordell Community Garden has to offer.
“We’ve had people from Bessie, Rocky, Sentinel, Del City, and just the small communities around us coming and wanting vegetables too,” Billings said. “Of course we’re not going to turn anybody away. If they want them and we have them, we’re going to give it to them.”
Other community gardens from surrounding towns have also reached out to Billings and Glasscock either with questions or advice.
“We have had people from other communities ask us how we got started and that they were wanting to try to start one in their community. We are totally, totally okay with that. Anything we could do to help just let us know,” Glasscock said. “We’ll tell you what we did, and some people tell us what they did and it’s better so we’re able to make ours better.”
Maintaining the garden and getting it ready has been a process, as Glasscock and Billing must make preparations months in advance to have the land ready for use in the spring.
“Even though in like January and February, we don’t have anything planted, we’re still out there working dirt or doing something,” Glasscock said.
And despite all the hard work that goes into preparing and tending to the garden, Billings and Glasscock say they enjoy every bit of it.
“It has surpassed anything we would have ever expected I promise. It’s been positive and it definitely makes it worth it,” Glasscock said. “When it’s a hundred and something degrees outside and you’re out there on your knees and everything, pulling weeds, do you really want to be there? Yeah. There’s no place. I’d rather be.”
For those interested in utilizing the community garden or have any questions about it, you can contact Billings and Glasscock on their Cordell Community Garden Facebook page or call them at 580-890-0540.
For now, Billings and Glasscock plan to continue to grow their garden as best as they can so that they can continue with their goal of giving back to the community.
“I remember a story that I had heard,” Billings said. “You didn’t have to have money to be able to give back. You give back what you have.”