Gardens have different energies during the four seasons. Community Gardens are no different. Springtime at The Story Garden (35th and Humboldt) brings new energy, neighbors dropping off seedlings, and folks asking about what’s gonna be planted. Early spring flowers bring much-needed pollen to the bees, ideas about what the summer will bring, and projects we want to get to done flow like honey. The weather is wet (hopefully) and the air is cool making it feel so inviting to be outside working alongside one another.
Summer is full of heat and slower work days. Folks are out and traveling, or busy with their lives. It is a season of quiet for people, but busy and full for the plants that are growing and thriving under the summer sun. This year we didn’t have to run the sprinkler as much with all the rain, so summer felt calm under consistent showers.
Fall has been a hive of activity in the garden. Living next door allows me to meet daily the handful of visitors that come to sit in the garden, harvest its gifts, walk their dog, grab a book, play tag, explore the trees and bees, smell the flowers and harvest seeds. Folks are coming for many different reasons. They each come to meet one another and get engaged in all that the garden is. Tonight is the full moon and there are neighbors who gather every full moon to sit, to reflect, to welcome what is coming. There is a woman who comes on extra hot days to water the garden because according to her, even if someone else did it, the plants and bees could use a little extra drink. She harvests food and distributes it to her neighbors when she is done. She has never met anyone who works in the garden, but she knows the space is also for her.
Today I met an artist who creates garden signs that invite folks to experience the whimsy of plants. We got to talk about the full scope of the story in the garden. How the name itself is a testament to the story of the land before there was a home there, before the tornado took a home and displaced a family who lived there for more than 30 years, and how it is now returned to being land that holds space for people. The name Story Garden speaks to the sacredness of life in humanity and plants and animals. That we each have a story and how they intersect in this space. The hope of what it means to live in harmony and sharing our story that is a testament to that kind of neighborly love and respect. That’s what The Story Garden is, it’s what we all are striving to create and invite in each one of us. That this land is owned by no one, but belongs to all of us, just like we belong to her.
As a caregiver of the garden, I want to make sure folks know they are welcome. I am working on organizing our communication and bringing more languages to the space so all folks know they are welcome. We have events coming up; make sure to follow us on FB at The Story Garden or email me at danielle.tietjen@gmail.com to be included in our newsletter that will start this fall.