NATCHEZ — Natchez resident Eddie Brown said he finds peace in gardening.

When The Dart landed on Melrose-Montebello Parkway, Brown was picking watermelons he had grown this year.

“If someone sees them and offers me something for them, I sell my watermelons,” Brown said. “If not, I’ll just give them away or eat them.”

Brown gardens a small patch of land where the old railroad bed is past Parkway Baptist between Espero and Arrowhead Although the city owns that land, Natchez allows Brown to cultivate it. But he isn’t the only one who gardens the land. Many people grow fruits and vegetables there as a community garden.

In Browns’ portion of the garden, he grows tomatoes, squash, cantaloupes and more. While Brown said he likes tilling the area, that isn’t the only part of Natchez he has gardened.

Brown has been gardening for almost 30 years and has been plotting the patch of land he works on now for about five. Before he started growing fruits and vegetables along Melrose-Montebello Parkway, Brown did so near St. Catherine Creek.

“I love farming,” Brown said. “I give up fishing and hunting for it. My wife doesn’t understand it. It’s peaceful. It is like a religion for me. When you break the dirt, plant the seeds, and then start to see them grow, those are your babies. Now, it’s time for the harvest.

“It’s a religious thing. It’s a godly thing to me to plant, you plow, you do all the work, you plant the seeds and then you start to see the seeds sprout in five days. It’s a miracle.”

Brown, originally from Monroe, Louisiana,said his gardening experience began when he moved to Natchez, where he met a co-worker who farmed. So, Brown inquired about farming techniques and followed in his co-worker’s footsteps.

“I’m happy I started farming,” Brown said. “It’s my favorite pastime.”

Brown said he likes gardening and farming so much that he still finds it enjoyable in the middle of a Mississippi summer.

“I wouldn’t be out here on this hot and humid day if I didn’t love it,” Brown said.

Brown typically gardens by himself. Yet whenever his 9-year-old grandson, Justin Hunt, is in town, Brown gets an extra pair of gardening-hands.

“My dad has a garden that I help with,” Hunt said. “In that garden my dad grows cucumbers, tomatoes and other stuff. So I like helping my grandpa.”

Brown said gardening teaches children Hunt’s age lessons they normally won’t learn from playing video games or watching television all day.

“I want him to learn the meaning of hard work,” Brown said. “To get out into the sun and not sleep or sit in front of the television all day. To not give up and to exercise.”

This year, Brown said the watermelons he picked didn’t grow to the normal 50-pounds they typically grow to because it has been relatively dry. Yet, he was still pleased with the amount of watermelons — almost 30 — he was able to take home.

More importantly, Brown said he is just happy he still gets to garden every day.

“When I’m out farming, the world just stands still,” Brown said. “It’s definitely one of my happy places.”