A summer stroll through the Wylde Center reveals three things: a miniature cultivated forest, a greenhouse as tightly packed and regimented as any military parade, and just how hot the Georgia sun can get. Jennifer Gerndt, former executive director of Wylde Center, lets us escape the punitive heat and humidity under a covered patio overlooking the grounds.
“We try to weave education into everything we do,” says Gerndt. Nearby, a mother strolls hand in hand with a child amongst the signage, picketing native plants, grow operations, and even a chicken coop. “If we have a volunteer group, they’re not just helping with some muscles and removing invasive species. They’re learning why that’s important.”
The Wylde Center is a hub for environmental exposure, showing Atlanta city folk who may have never dug their fingers in the soil, cultivated their own food, or taken much notice of Georgia’s ecosystem how all these things support each other. Free of pesticides and fueled by the muscle and know-how of its workers, the Wylde Center shows exactly how relying on nature to produce food in turn rejuvenates the environment. It has five locations in metro Atlanta.
Gerndt’s hope is that by teaching the whys behind Wylde Center’s regenerative approach to homegrown produce and native plant species, its community feels empowered to grow their own food, at any scale, and take steps to nurture their environment, whether that’s the air, soil, water, or community. This feeds into one of its most foundational aspects: proactive outreach.
“Proactive in the sense of going back to the clock that’s ticking away,” Gerndt says, referring to Wylde Center’s practices to combat environmental decline. “We want to get ahead of it. We’re not waiting until the deadline to make good choices.
“We want to make people aware of important things for our environment now and blend it into the fold as an everyday normal part of life, and not wait for a moment to educate. Just like you brush your teeth before you go to bed, these are the things you do to care for your environment, just a normal part of life.”
“…people get overwhelmed by the enormity of all the possibilities. But, if you could just do something that betters our environment, then you’re on the right track.”
Jennifer Gerndt, Executive Director of Wylde Center
Still, Wylde Center acknowledges that a prescriptive, one-size-fits-all approach is not the way to normalize environmental stewardship. “You don’t have to do everything, but you have to do something, right?” says Gerndt. “I think people get overwhelmed by the enormity of all the possibilities. But, if you could just do something that betters our environment, then you’re on the right track.”
And one of the best ways to tailor an approach to bettering your environment? Food.
“I think one of the things that’s important to us is food access, and it’s a derivative of environmental awareness,” Gerndt says. “We grow 80,000 plants a year in our nursery, and the majority of those are vegetable plants.”
Wylde Center distributes many of these plants through the self-service plant market at its Decatur headquarters, but many of the plants and harvest go to school programs aimed at helping children develop connections with growing and enjoying fresh produce. Four of its five locations also have community gardens where community members can rent plots.
Wylde Center facilitates, as Gerndt puts it, “agency over their own food supply,” an idea that gives people not only the freedom of access but also a chance at fully appreciating what real, healthy, fresh produce tastes like. Still, exposure and education can only do so much in the face of economic disparities.
“It goes back to agency again, where the children get this exposure at school, where they taste a carrot for the first time. They’re like ‘Wow, this is really yummy and I love this carrot.’ But then, they go home and mom says, ‘We don’t have enough money for carrots.’”
“We have to be in the places where people who need it the most get it…And that’s where city officials could be more supportive,” Gerndt says. “And identify other places, with financial support, where these types of programs can literally crop up…so these students aren’t getting a one-off lesson about carrots one day, they have access to carrots.”
“Knowing who grew it, the ethics of how it was grown…has really moved people towards buying and growing local produce.”
Fred Conrad, Senior Manager of Community Gardens at Food Well Alliance
Gerndt is quick to say Wylde Center feels quite supported by the city of Decatur, but in many communities, investment in community gardening and environmental-agricultural education aren’t high priorities for elected officials. Though that could change with enough public demand.
That demand could soon be vocalized, according to Fred Conrad, Senior Manager of Community Gardens at Food Well Alliance. Since 1997, Conrad has seen the scale and number of community gardens in Atlanta flourish, and though no volunteer-operated producer can grow enough food to feed all its families, he says it shows a “different kind of consciousness about food.”
“The organic food movement did nothing for community gardening,” he says. “The local food movement has a much bigger effect. Knowing who grew it, the ethics of how it was grown, what was used, and what’s its carbon footprint has really moved people towards buying and growing local produce.”
Much in the same way that no one person could create Wylde Center, no one person, garden, or even group of gardens can effectively combat food insecurity and inequitable fresh food access. However, with financial support for programs like Wylde Center that provide education, materials, and empowerment, individuals, at any scale, can start developing their own approaches to securing fresh produce based on their needs.
“The reason nonprofits exist is to fill a gap where government is vacant…If they’re not going to manage these types of programs on their own, they could give us the financial support where we don’t have to worry month to month, how much we can afford and what we can do,” Gerndt says. “When community is loud, politicians listen.”
Editor’s Note: Since this story was reported and written, the Wylde Center has undergone changes, with Gerndt stepping down as executive director amidst financial challenges and staff criticism. The organization also paused its school garden program.
