Sowing Seeds of Gratitude

How Emmaus House Advisory Board Member Chris Lemons Is Cultivating an Appreciation of the Earth and Its Ability to Sustain Communities

As co-owner of Gratitude Botanical Farm, Chris Lemons knows what it takes to nurture growth. It requires care, consistency, thoughtfulness, patience, and warmth. In so many ways, one could also say that the same rules apply to our work helping our neighbors flourish here at Emmaus House, where Lemons has served as an advisory board member for the last two years.

Photo courtesy of Gratitude Botanical Farm.

The farm that Lemons runs with his childhood friend Desmond Baskerville grows fruits, seasonal vegetables, and flowers, but their work is about so much more than just the end harvest -- it’s about the seeds they’re sowing in the community. Along with busy daily operations of the functioning farm, Gratitude serves as a hub for educating, feeding, serving, and protecting the history of the people of Atlanta through the art of organic urban agriculture.

Lemons and Baskerville met in pre-Kindergarten; both grew up on the southside of Atlanta and retained their friendship through their high school years at Westlake, a science magnet. They were both part of the gifted programs and had the opportunity to work on several projects together, a precursor to their business partnership.

Co-running the business with his buddy has a kind of symbiotic harmony to it, Lemons said, in part because of his and Desmond’s complementary styles. “Desmond is definitely someone who is very friendly, outgoing, personable, and likes to smile a lot. Me, I have a little bit of an austere side,” Lemons said, adding with a laugh: “When we play good cop bad cop, he’s definitely the good cop.”

Lemons has deep family ties to Summerhill and Peoplestown, where he now lives in his great-great-grandfather’s house. “Being tied to this neighborhood is something that mattered for me and my family,” he said. “Just being good stewards in the community is something that was instilled in me from my time in Peoplestown.”

The number one thing he loves about this neighborhood is the people. “It’s really a people’s town. We have a diverse group of neighbors. We have people from all sorts of backgrounds and races in our communities,” he said. “Something I’ve always appreciated is that you can see someone from almost any walk of life.” He also appreciates the resilience he witnesses throughout the community.

“We have been inundated with changes and proposed changes,” Lemons said, adding that he admires that longstanding history and legacy of the area. “Just knowing that we’re a part of the original part of Atlanta, it’s something that means a lot to me. I appreciate the way that people have maintained their strength, especially in the face of displacement and gentrification.”

Even before he took on the role of advisory board member at Emmaus House, Lemons said he would volunteer to read at its Freedom Schools program in the summer and would participate in community cleanups and beautification projects nearby. He has led groups to plant flowers and taught youth about the wonders of the outdoors.

Lemons comes by it honestly. He’s a descendant of a family that has always grown things. “My interest in food I learned from my grandfather Howard Lee Lemons,” he said. “I just remember the freshness of the food and the pride that people have when they’re growing things.”

Being able to provide for yourself and your loved ones, when needed, was embedded in Lemons’ family ethos early on. His father was also a store manager at Kroger for many years, and so Lemons can remember learning about the complex and often inequitable way in which food gets distributed from zip code to zip code, which has instilled a profound appreciation for the food justice movement.

“People are wanting to come back to the earth and be more educated about where their food comes from, even learn how to produce food by themselves,” he said.

In addition to his endeavors on the farm, Lemons serves as President of Peoplestown Neighborhood Association and works full-time as a volunteer manager with Park Pride, so he and Des have to arrange their schedules carefully to make sure that they’re vigilant about any problems that might arise.

They also host farmers' markets in the summer, where you can drop by to pick up veggies like sweet potatoes or collard greens, delivered straight from the soil. Lemons said it has been essential for them to keep the “barriers for entry low” so that as many local farmers can participate as possible, and so that residents can have access to free food that’s also affordable.

Most of all, Lemons said he enjoys that his chosen vocation entails getting to share with others - like when he recently brought his grandmother turnip greens for Christmas to cook up for the whole family to enjoy. “If you taste the freshness of the food, it makes a world of difference. When you eat food that’s really fresh, it’s electric,” he said.

Gratitude Farms also hosts after school programs, offering the opportunity for kids to have “fun and enjoy the outdoors in a guided way.” One of Lemons’ favorite aspects of their work has been the process of introducing local youth to what it means to tend to a garden and help it flourish, providing instruction on planting, weeding, and everything in between.

“Watching kids take more ownership and responsibility over what’s in their community, and watching the smiles and the way they were happy to take the food home to their family, or cut flowers and take them to their mom – those were the kinds of things that meant a lot and were cool to see,” he said.

Want to get involved with Gratitude Botanical Farm? They host a volunteer day once a month but are also open to inquiries through social media about volunteering on other days. They’re also always interested in hearing from anyone who might want to volunteer other skills to help with the business - such as administrative assistance.