Hermon Christopher surveys his handiwork. (Photo by Patricia Borns, courtesy of V.I. Housing Authority)
Hermon Christopher, a 95-year-old resident of the Lucinda Millin Home on St. Thomas, has been tending to a garden there for more than 20 years, making his corner of the island a little nicer for everyone. The garden today surrounds three sides of the Virgin Islands Housing Authority community, and he is still its most active keeper. He started the garden to “give myself something to do,” as he put it, eventually filling all four sides of the development.
A native of Tortola, Christopher grew up with agriculture, and so the cultivation of cassava, green bananas, sweet potatoes, okra and other edibles came naturally to him. Others joined in.
Gardens at the Lucinda Millin Home on St. Thomas (Photo by Patricia Borns, courtesy of V.I. Housing Authority)A banana tree growing outside Lucinda Millin Home. (Photo by Patricia Borns, courtesy of V.I. Housing Authority)An okra plant flowers in an urban garden surrounding the Lucinda Millin Home on St. Thomas. (Photo by Patricia Borns, courtesy of V.I. Housing Authority)Hermon Christopher tends to a plot of herbs used for bush tea in the urban garden he started over 20 years ago “to give myself something to do,” as he put it. (Photo by Patricia Borns, courtesy of V.I. Housing Authority)A sugar apple ripens in the urban garden surrounding the Lucinda Millin Home. (Photo by Patricia Borns, courtesy of V.I. Housing Authority)Green bananas ripening slowly in the Lucinda Millin Home urban garden. (Photo by Patricia Borns, courtesy of V.I. Housing Authority)
