Put a Fork in It

I went to the Sharing Garden, yet again, at the community garden for refugees-of-war in the most diverse square mile in the USA. I had created it a year and a half ago when my scheduled departure for Peace Corps Uganda as an Agribusiness Specialist (with a secondary project working with women and girls on…

How Much Is Enough?

There wasn’t much to offer this past Saturday at the Sharing Garden I created and steward at a community garden for refugees-of-war. Lingering heat has slowed the emergence and abundance of fall greens, and all the summer crops are gone except the jalapeños (those Southern garden rock stars). I had harvested recently but knew that…

A Sign

I PRAY FOR A SIGN FROM MY HIGHER POWER EACH DAY. MAY I HEAR AND HEED YOUR CALLING FOR ME, I SAY. AND SURE ENOUGH, IT COMES. EVERY DAY, IN SOME WAY.  Yesterday was at my Sharing Garden at a community garden for refugees-of-war in the most diverse square mile in the USA. This sign was…

And Yet, Here I Am

My Burmese neighbor at the community garden for refugees-of-war crouches low and watches me water. She shows up almost every time I’m there, either because she goes there a lot or because she sees me from her apartment next door and comes. She likes to chat but we don’t speak each other’s languages however hard…

Peas on Earth

War. Death. Climate collapse (in Alaska, where I’m currently working full-time remotely, at twice the rate of the USA). Housing crisis. Mental health despair. It ain’t lookin’ good, team. Yet, as you know, every time I read a bad headline, I plant a seed (which, supposedly, is the ultimate act of faith in the future)….

“Good, right?”

I was leaving when I saw them. The cinderblocks. It was Bob again, I knew. I had carried a dozen or so of them up a little hill to create my first community garden bed way back in 2009 when where he lived (and I still do) became the newest city in the United States…

“Checking on the Garden” Ride

As a PeopleForBikes Ambassador, I create and share bike riding stories on their app, Ridespot. (I also participate in bike-industry-sponsored challenges where money gets donated to those in need, and I earn fun patches. Join me!) Here is my latest Ride Story. You can see more of them here. ___ It’s always good to have…

God’s Work (or Bob’s Work)

It’s a very specific feeling, and I recognize it.  It feels like God’s work. Or Bob’s work.  Bob was my friend with whom I created or rejuvenated about a dozen food-growing gardens in Metro Atlanta. We built a pilot garden for the first school for refugee-children-of-war in the United States, which was gonna be a…

Bed Springs

“Bed springs,” I would have texted. Just that. And my friend Bob would have replied, “Bed springs?” And then I would have added, “The refugees use old bed springs as fences around their gardens at the Jolly Avenue Community Garden in Clarkston. Imagine what is possible.” And he would have answered, “Well, they ARE garden…