Antrica Feaster

Faithful Fields Community Garden

Mableton, Cobb County

When Antrica Feaster imagined the concept for a community garden at Words of Faith AME Church in Mableton, she was surprised by how quickly she and garden volunteers were able to bring that vision to life. Throughout its first year of operation, Faithful Fields Community Garden had produced enough to donate 1,300 pounds of food to the church food pantry.

So far, the garden’s trajectory for this year looks even more promising. Antrica attributes that to a special sauce of divine intervention and support from the community. “Every time I need something, it's like it just happens. It's kind of cool that you do something you just started last year, and now you get to take in the community in a different way. We have people driving by offering the wildest things to us. There's a guy around the corner that has a commercial kitchen, and he's like, ‘you could come by any time and host classes here.’ The community is really rallying behind us, hoping we're successful.”

Food Well has been part of Faithful Fields’ community of support over the past year and a half. This year with Food Well’s Garden Forward Grant, they’ll install an irrigation system and a greenhouse. Cooking classes are also in the works. Antrica says all three will be game changers for providing more consistent plant hydration, extending growing seasons, and teaching gardeners how to prepare the food they’ve grown. “I think the worst part of growing food is that people don't know what to do with it. You put all that work into it and you didn't even get a chance to eat it. There are beautiful ways of making food that is delicious and nutritious, and that's what our focus is.”

Antrica shared a story to illustrate the powerful impact that can be made when local growers have the resources they need to sustain thriving growing spaces and educate people in their communities. Last year, she met a single mom who was on the brink of kidney failure. She not only gave the mom a list of nutrient dense foods for kidney health, but offered to provide those foods from the garden.

Earlier this month, Antrica saw the woman and heard the good news that she was no longer in danger of kidney failure. “Someone being able to donate to a garden, to a space where people can learn how to do those kinds of things themselves, it opens doors that they didn't even know that they had. She has two kids, and she's the single parent, so if she goes, what happens to her kids? When you give, you're touching more than just the farmer or the gardener, you're actually giving an extension of life to a whole family, a generation beyond her that gets to say, ‘You know what, my mom healed herself with food.’”

Antrica encourages anyone considering a donation to Food Well to visit a local farm or garden and talk with the growers who are producing the food. What would she tell you if you came by her place? “It’s because of someone's selflessness who said, ‘You know what, I can donate $100,” that I'm able to buy seeds or soil or fertilizer to make sure the ground is ready to receive a seed and grow food. I can, in turn, gift my community to make sure that they're nourished, and that's amazing to me.”

Story of Antrica Feaster and Faithful Fields Community Garden from 2025

Twice a week in Mableton, Antrica Feaster and volunteers Andrea and Shontay work in the garden beside Words of Faith AME Church. Starting early to beat the midday heat, they water rows of plants, weed beds, and pick produce. Today the garden is full of life and fresh food, but just a year ago it was an empty lot.

When Antrica envisioned Faithful Fields Community Garden, she saw a place where people could access fresh, local food. At Words of Faith AME Church, their motto is “a church without walls”. So when she brought her idea to Reverend Larry J. Lockett and First Lady Davida Lockett, they both welcomed the project. “We are embarking on what we’re calling Outrageous Outreach,” said Davida. “The garden is just one of the ways we’re doing it. The garden is a ministry in and of itself. It’s getting people in the mindset of church being with you and everywhere you go. This is the way we’re showing our love for our community.”

In Mableton access to fresh, healthy food is limited. “The closest grocery store–a real grocery store–is like two miles away,” said Reverend Lockett. “We’re in a food desert, and this garden helps folks that can’t get access to food.”

At Faithful Fields, every harvest feeds the community. Fresh produce is shared with neighbors who stop by the garden and distributed through the church’s Danny Woods Community Food Bank, an Atlanta Community Food Bank partner.

But starting the garden wasn’t easy. “Our biggest challenge, honestly, is the clay soil,” said Antrica explaining what it took to get the garden to its current state. “Getting the soil cube through Food Well helped a lot just to get everything started, to get that baseline nutrition into the soil.” Through the 2025 Garden Improvement Grant from Food Well, Faithful Fields was able to get their herb garden started, purchase tools, and build an entry gate for the garden. They also received over 60 fruiting plants as part of the Orchard Project this year. Additional support came from Oikos Institute for Social Impact, Seed Savers Exchange, and High Mowing Seeds.

Antrica welcomes anyone who wants help in the garden and loves to interact with the community that passes by, offering up fresh food to anyone who needs it. One father brings all eight of his children, the youngest just two years old, to volunteer in the garden. They help plant the sweet potatoes that are growing now. “They come and eat all the berries,” laughed Antrica. “When we had peas, they would come and eat the peas and the cucumber and tell us what they were going to make when they got home.”

Faithful Fields is already making an impact, but Antrica sees even greater potential. She wants to expand the community garden beds, plant tea and herb gardens, and create pathways and seating areas and build a teaching kitchen to show people how to cook with what they grow.

Giving back is at the heart of everything the garden and church does. Donations play a key role in ensuring they can continue the garden and feeding the community. “Every time you give $1, every time you give a smile, every time you give something out of the charity, you encourage someone else to do the same thing,” said Antrica stressing the importance of giving. “If we can see more people giving, then that will encourage more people to give and do better things with things they’re given.”

Just Picked! Blog

Antrica Feaster | Faithful Fields Community Garden