Go Green

special green space for the enjoyment of the community. “They have done a remarkable job creating and maintaining this one-acre oasis in Candler Park, and now the Wylde Center is excited to help take their garden to the next level,” she said.

Mulberry Fields, located at 1301 Iverson St., was once part of a dairy farm owned by the Talbot family. In the early 1990s, one of the remaining Talbot family members considered re-zoning the property for multifamily and commercial redevelopment. However, a group of neighbors came together to buy the acre of land, and in 1999 Jesse and Richard Bathrick founded the community garden.

By Collin Kelley

As of last month, the Wylde Center has taken on the management of Mulberry Fields Community Garden and Greenspace in Candler Park. The garden is the fifth green space overseen by the Decatur-based Wylde Center, whose staff and volunteers will manage all aspects of the community garden including maintenance, field trips, garden plot rentals and special events. The garden has been re-named Wylde Center-Mulberry Fields Garden.

“Mulberry Fields is considered a sister garden to the Wylde Center’s Oakhurst Garden, and its history is very similar to our garden’s,” said Stephanie Van Parys, executive director of the Wylde Center. “In fact, Mulberry Fields’ co-founder, Jesse Bathrick, was a close friend of our late co-founder, Sally Wylde.”

Van Parys’ said that like Oakhurst Garden, Mulberry Fields came about because a group of neighbors wanted to preserve a