Like many backyard gardens in Curry County, the community garden located at NMSU's Agricultural Science Center at Clovis has rows of okra, squash and sweet corn that rely on the kindness of Mother Nature.

The difference: This garden is tended and harvested by people sentenced to either the county jail or community service.

All nonviolent offenders, many are doing time for driving while intoxicated, says R.D. Baker, acting science center superintendent and an agronomist with NMSU's Cooperative Extension Service.

The workers-clad mostly in jeans and Curry County Detention Center shirts-typically put in five days a week, six to seven hours a day, depending on the weather.

The community garden got its start with Magistrate Judge Caleb Chandler in Clovis. Five years ago, he heard a speaker at a National Judicial College in Reno, Nev., describe a successful community garden project in the East.

"I was looking for some productive community service work that would return more to the community," Chandler says. "And I've always been an advocate of inmates working."

The project benefits people like John Lesly, who has been able to work off his court fees through the project.

He's no stranger to gardening. "My grandfather has a garden," Lesly says. "He likes to grow tomatoes and stuff. He has a grape vine. So I help him with that."

At the community garden, Lesly has spent most of his time hoeing weeds. He's also picked zucchini, yellow squash and other vegetables.

"The project brings a lot of people who think they are looked down on by the community and puts them back in contact with the community," says William "Buddy" Laing, the science center's farm manager and community garden president.

Gardening also helps the workers learn some new skills and, perhaps, some new ideas about jobs that are available, Laing says.

Two years ago, one nonviolent offender who worked in the garden for two months found the outdoor sentence gave him time to reflect. Located 13 miles north of Clovis, the science center offers a peaceful and quiet place for gardening.

"You start thinking about what you should do to correct your mistakes, and you get clearer thinking out here than you would if you were just in jail all the time," he says.

The "community" part of the community garden comes from the collaboration between local businesses that donate seed and fertilizer and the magistrate court that provides a supervisor and transportation for the garden workers.

The science center provides the land, water, equipment and some gardening expertise, Baker says.

All of the produce harvested from the two-acre garden is donated to local missions, senior citizen centers and retirement homes. By mid-August this year, nearly 20,000 pounds of produce had been harvested and hauled away in yellow, mesh bags, with another 20,000 expected.

"I feel that it's pretty good to donate to the older citizens-people who need it," Lesly says. "It's nice to know it's going someplace good."