Putting down roots: How San Carlos Community Garden continues to grow
As we feel the change in the air signaling the shift from summer to fall we sow new seeds and look forward to the upcoming season and all the wonderful events it will bring At the same time we re also looking back on a bountiful summer harvest of produce events and population memories At least I know I definitely am After an amazing summer of working at the San Carlos Population Garden as an ambassador for nine weeks with five fellow ambassadors I find myself looking back on my transformative experience at the garden while also looking forward to where I ll cultivate my next prospects Like majority of of my fellow ambassadors I joined the initiative after learning about it through Ms Dicken s AP Environmental Science class at Patrick Henry High School Learning about soil degradation trophic cascades ozone holes and waste beyond repair it was easy to feel like everything was horribly doomed It led a large number of of us to ask How could we possibly be capable of making any real change Ambassadors are observing the temperature and vitality of SCCGs compost production Photo by Kelly Wood Yet Ms Dickens was able to encourage us towards practical solutions and how to make a difference One day something she revealed stuck with me She described how whenever she felt hopeless she went and did something A cleanup a region event anything to accomplish something however seemingly small because small actions add up to make a massive difference So when I saw the opportunity to make my difference at the San Carlos Locality Garden I seized it along with five other wonderful peers And I learned so much in the process Every Saturday for nine weeks we were greeted by a different professor who taught us about so numerous philosophies and facets of gardening down to how to treat the soil under our feet up to the trees that extended above We participated in an interactive learning context putting our knowledge to practical work One week we were installing a beehive The next we were making native seed packets then practicing how to take a moment and capture the world around us through sketching plants The combination of learning and working enabled us to understand how to effect positive change based on each week s exciting topic But installing beehives or learning how to make the best compost wasn t all we learned or did In the midst of all of our society events sometime between when I was harvesting tomatoes with my fellow ambassadors guffawing and making jokes the whole time or latest specific of the the majority delicious bread and jam I ve ever tasted with region members during SCCG s monthly held Produce Swap or listening to the thrumming guitar chords during the Summer Concert Series seeming to reverberate in every leaf and root and off nearby Cowles mountain itself I thought back to this plant principle I d learned on one of our Saturday sessions A plant can only grow as tall as its roots extending down into the earth I realized that this principle doesn t just apply to plants but applies to us as well It s the roots we plant the society we ground ourselves in and give back to that extends us further creating and contributing meaningful change To solve the problems I d heard about in Ms Dicken s class and sought to do just about anything to try to fix I realized that doing something as she mentioned was just the first step she had given us Through this process of doing and my experience at SCCG I realized that in order to create meaningful change it starts with the population that you nurture which empowers you to act together It s the people you connect with the like-minded souls you meet at meditations agreement produce with or find reading a book in the garden that come together with a promise of solving any one of the thousands of environmental problems we confront nowadays And that starts here at our San Carlos Group Garden where we choose to put down our roots So let s have an amazing season ahead growing the roots of our neighborhood deep in every event we attend conversation we have and seed we plant Plenty to do and see as fall comes aroundDon t miss out on SCCG s upcoming fall garden workshops and monthly events Let s Get Dirty Compost Soil Building Saturday Sept DIY Pumpkin Succulent Arrangement Saturday Oct Create Your Own Living Art Bonsai Tree with Lucky Jade Plants Saturday Nov Learn more and register at sancarloscommunitygarden com or email them at info sancarloscommunitygarden com Editor s note Amelia Kirkegaard has served as SCCG summer youth ambassador She is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School
