Dr. Julia Capps Garden harvests heartfelt bounty

Black mountain BEAUTIFICATION committee seed money recipient thrives in Kerlee heights

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
August 30, 2023

Libba Fairleigh, left, and Jean Chamberlain, center, of the Black Mountain Beautification Committee, meet with Kate Shawgo at the Dr. Julia Capps Neighborhood Garden. The project was initially supported by the Seed Money Award in 2019. Photo by Fred McCormick

At first glance, a lush patch of land tucked between two cottages on a quiet street in the Kerlee Heights neighborhood appears much like an oasis on the eastern edge of Black Mountain. Vibrant fruits and vegetables grow abundantly throughout the lush parcel, as neighbors chat while working the land, upholding a tradition that dates back more than 75 years.

Together, they harvest the produce from heirloom seeds, including mountain half runner and greasy cut short green beans and pick grapes that have grown there for decades, honoring the memory of the neighbor from whom the garden takes its name.

The Dr. Julia Capps Neighborhood Garden sprouted in 2019 with the support of the Black Mountain Beautification Committee Seed Money Award, which is granted each year to fund local gardening projects that best exemplify the nonprofit organization’s mission to reflect the natural beauty of the surrounding mountains. The quarter-acre patch of land, which received $225 through the Seed Money grant to restore the plot originally established by Lee Kerlee in 1946, represents one the “most glowing examples” of the grant’s mission, according to BMBC Seed Money Award board chair Jean Chamberlain.

“A lot of beautiful things have come about because of the grant, but one thing that really stands out to me is that this garden has been ongoing,” Chamberlain said. “They asked for the Seed Money to get started, and they’ve been committed to maintaining it an as asset to the community since.”

Kate Shawgo has lived next door to the meadow since moving to town nearly 20 years ago. The lot sits between her home and the former home of Capps, whose family has owned the land for generations.

Kate Shawgo, the “dirt keeper” of the Dr. Julia Capps Neighborhood Garden, requested $225 in funding from the Black Mountain Beautification Seed Money Award in 2014 to establish the memorial to her former neighbor. Photo by Fred McCormick

“When Ms. Julia was alive, she wanted this meadow to remain protected for the children and fireflies,” Shawgo said. “It was her wish that nothing be built on this parcel so it would be there for those purposes. I used to walk through here to take her Mr. Stripey tomatoes, because she liked them the best.

“When she was in her last days, I took her one and her nurse sliced it up and she ate it right away,” she continued. “She took a bite and said, ‘it’s like eating the sun.’ I thought about how as she was moving out of this world, she was still getting delight from it.”

While the family and neighborhood mourned the loss of Capps in 2017, an idea to honor the lifelong educator, former Associate Superintendent for Asheville City Schools and elder of Black Mountain Presbyterian Church was germinating.

“One day I was working in my garden and Kenny (Capps) came walking through the meadow and asked what I thought about the idea of turning this into a garden for the block,” Shawgo said.

The project would reflect the spirit of his great-aunt, according to Kenny.

“She was such a proactive community member because she went out of her way to take care of others,” he said. “I remember as kids, she’d take us out and have trash bags and gloves in her trunk and we’d get out and pick up garbage on the side of the road. And, if she saw someone who had needs, she was always giving.”

Julia grew up in the home on the east side of the garden.

“My great-grandfather bought this house in the 1930s, and my aunt grew up here and lived here her whole life,” Kenny said. “My grandfather had a garden here when I was a kid, and it was really just a green space that my aunt refused to build on, so the family wanted to keep it that way.”

Kenny Capps, whose great-aunt passed away in 2017, approached Kate Shawgo two years later about establishing the Dr. Julia Capps Neighborhood Garden. The Kerlee Heights park now feeds up to 11 households within the community. Photo by Fred McCormick

Re-establishing a garden would bring the land around “full circle,” Shawgo wrote when she requested funds from the Seed Money Award committee four years ago. She asked for $100 to pay Bob Padgett for his tractor to till the land, $100 for seeds and $25 for potting soil and seedlings.

“Lee Kerlee had the first garden after many wheelbarrows of rocks; that was the year 1946,” according to the oral history of the plot, as relayed by Jerry Kerlee, who passed away in 2022. “He planted a garden of vegetables and raspberries.”

Harold Eller, who like his predecessor shared his bounty with neighbors, later operated the garden.

“The garden was a family garden for over 50 years,” Kerlee recounted to his wife, Ora Lee, who still lives nearby and receives vegetables from the Capps Garden.

“The garden has meant so much to all the neighbors in Kerlee Heights. When you receive your veggies they are in bags with your name and a text message to let you know that you have veggies,” Ora Lee said. “I have been a recipient since the beginning. Kate knows that I love green beans. I believe that Kate was meant to have The Garden, She has the heart and a beautiful soul for giving and so much love goes into planting and watching the veggies grow.”

Shawgo is the self-described “dirt keeper” of the garden, which provides food for residents on the quiet street and donates the remainder to the Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry.

“The Capps family owns the land, and we have neighborhood volunteers who come and help with the gardening,” she said. “I used to have a greeting card business on Cherry Street, and this has really given me a sense of purpose in my retirement.”

Older residents help out by saving grocery bags that Shawgo uses for weekly deliveries of fresh produce, or keeping old yogurt containers to protect sprouts from worms.

“I have one woman who is outstanding at finding antique tools that still work for $2 or $3 and donate them,” she continued. “Some people weed, some people buy seeds, and sometimes things show up on my porch. Anyone can eat, and the only thing we ask is you don’t waste it. If you don’t need it, just pass it along to somebody who does.”

The garden serves as many as 11 households, according to Shawgo, who gathers ripe produce each Wednesday and drops her harvest off on nearby porches.

“We’ve grown 150 pounds of potatoes this year, and we grow almost everything, except broccoli and cabbage,” she said. “We have pumpkins, squashes, watermelons, tomatoes, raspberries and grapes.”

A pair of heirloom green bean are flourishing this year.

“One is the mountain half-runners, which everyone wants because they’re traditional up here,” Shawgo said. “I had a neighbor move in who told us we needed greasy cut short beans, which you can get, but you have to know someone whose had them in their family for a long time. This year, a new neighbor contacted her father in Swannanoa who allowed us to be the keepers of the lineage of the Price family greasy cut short bean seeds.”

Sharon Carroll works in the Capps Neighborhood Garden in the Kerlee Heights neighborhood of Black Mountain. Photo by Fred McCormick

Sharon Carroll, who has lived in the neighborhood for 12 years, works in the garden when time allows.

“It’s a wonderful thing to have around,” said Carroll, as she picked beans. “It’s right in your backyard, and if I want to pick raspberries, I come get some. But, I also try to work as much as possible, because working in the dirt makes me happy.”

Just down the row, Leslie Wiese is enjoying the gardening experience, as she does every time she visits Black Mountain from Washington.

“I do this same kind of thing back at home, and sometimes Kate will have projects that need an extra set of hands,” she said. Wiese, who has known Shawgo for more than 30 years, has been impressed with her friend’s ability to manage the impressive garden.

“I love Black Mountain; I call it my second home,” she said. “It’s so nice, and the people are great, so it feels good to come here and be part of something like this. This garden is fantastic.”

Longtime Black Mountain resident Debbie Jensen first learned about the Capps Garden as Shawgo was applying for Seed Money, and was immediately interested. While she lives near Lake Tomahawk, she volunteers weekly at the garden.

“She allowed me to be part of it in the beginning, and I’ve been coming back since,” she said. “It’s kind of my zen. It’s not just the produce, even though it’s great to go home, look at your food and think, ‘I did that.’ But, it also gives you this whole other sense of the earth, God and nature.”

While the food sourced from the garden provides neighborhood residents a reliable source of healthy food, it’s impact is greater, according to Shawgo.

“Every neighborhood goes through cycles, and I think this garden has really brought this one back to the close-knit community it was for so long,” she said. “I know Julia would be happy about that. It’s a place where people can be in nature and everybody who uses it gives in whatever way they can give.”