Vivi the Dirt Diva

Alligator Princess of America's Nile

Vivi the Dirt Diva

If a river has the persona of a female, and if that river is also southern and distinguished and whimsical, then that river would sound like Victoria Freeman.

Victoria has spent most of her adult life as a teacher and a writer, and has never lived too far from the St. Johns. Today, she’s the proprietress of a historic B&B on the river shore in the Avondale section of Jacksonville. But if you take a deeper look, she’s so much more.

To begin with, she has invited six of her neighbors to each cultivate small gardens out on a spacious riverfront yard that was once covered with well-coifed---but environmentally useless---grass. My fellow gardeners call me “Vivi the Dirt Diva”, says Victoria, in a typical self-effacing comment.

For their space, they all agree to garden organically and sustainability. “Vivi” has also formed a larger group of folks who grow their own food gardens in the neighborhood.

“Pot, Patch or Plot is the ‘Urbfarmers United’ slogan,” says Victoria. Urb farmer is not “herb” misspelled, but is made-up slang for “urban.”

“We meet about every three months and share info and food. The rule is that some part of the food must be homegrown. We were locavores before it was word of the year in the Oxford English Dictionary.”

A “locavore” is someone who eats food grown or produced locally or within a certain radius such as 50, 100, or 150 miles. The locavore movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers’ markets or even to produce their own food, with the argument that fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste better. Locally grown food is an environmentally friendly means of obtaining food, since supermarkets that import their food use more fossil fuels and non-renewable resources.

“I do what I can to make folks conscious of their connection to the river. I encourage folks to stop using herbicides or fertilizer near the river by showing them what is possible without these additives. I let children’s groups come down and visit the garden and they are always magnetically attracted to the St. Johns. We talk about what they can do to keep it healthy.”

“Vivi the Dirt Diva” has been a teacher for 38 years, a writer for about the same amount of time, the mom of “two incredible men”, a speaker on the organic gardening circuit, a Riverkeeper board member and a gardener since she followed her grandmother into her Georgia kitchen garden to select the day’s best tomato. ( It was a major event,” says Victoria, “Times were slower then”.)

“I have been blessed to live most of my adult life on two rivers, the Fort George and the St.Johns. I know that while rivers appear mighty and almost infinite, they are fighting to stay alive in the face of a culture that is environmentally autistic. I do what I can to make folks conscious of their connection to the river.”

I’ve not only been fortunate enough to be Victoria’s friend, and guest at the “House on Cherry Street,” but “Vivi” also encourage me on my river trip. During one leg of the trip, I finished my day there at her dock by late afternoon; during another, I launched from there in the early morning on the last leg of my journey. Later, the tides turned and sucked me straight out to sea.