Garden Refections

While it would seem like in a garden there would be continual payoff, celebrating harvests, beautiful flowers and completed projects, I find that I sometimes have trouble celebrating the success in a garden when each time I visit I'm always finding weeds and more things that need attention.

Of course, this also echos what it has felt like for me to work with the homeless for the past 8 years in San Francisco. There has been so much life changing work that I've been a part of. Yet, despite all my efforts to celebrate the small moments of victory, the individuals that are now living indoors and addressing their mental health and addiction issues, I still find it hard to celebrate because homelessness in San Francisco is seemingly and unending crisis.

At each of our garden meetings we take time to celebrate the small improvements, successes and joys of the garden and of our lives. Today, I'm reflecting on the amazing things that we've been able to accomplish this summer at the garden.

• We installed drip irrigation on all of our garden beds. This decreased the volunteer time spent watering the garden from 8 hours a day to an half hour.
• We created vertical gardens to grow drought resistant succulents and block the wind. [see the photo progression of the vertical succulent pocket fence or read the DIY instructions about how to make your own]
• We harvested food and ate together at all of our garden meetings.
• We started regular skill share opportunities for individuals to learn about health, garden skills and addiction recovery.
• We hired 6 summer youth employees who need special help in high school or are a part of the foster care system. These youth were able to help with projects at the garden, participate in our health and garden skill shares and to keep our garden open to the public on a regular basis.
• We created a mural (still in progress) [see the photo progression of the mural]
• We hired 2 additional staff members: an office assistant and a garden educator
• We worked on our communication, decision making process and established a vision.
• We had a big planting day and created two beds in the garden dedicated to mental health care plants and for making teas.
• We began having conversations with the San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance in order to build relationships and provide opportunities through the Seeding Resilience project.
• We obtained a bicycle powered smoothie machine!
• And the most important of all, but hardest to count, is the way that we were able to provide a safe environment for individuals who live on the streets, in shelters, single room occupancy hotel rooms or in the Hayes Valley Neighborhood to enjoy a green space, have some organic produce or just to escape the stress of the city for a bit. My favorite story is about how Don was able to get teeth.

What a list! While there will always be weeds and new cycles of harvesting and planting that we continue to work on in the garden, I truly believe that the community we have created at the garden is one to celebrate. I hope to see you at the garden soon, whether you volunteer, want to relax or to come enjoy some of the harvest. Also, please add comments here if there are things I've forgotten to celebrate.

Be well!

Megan.