Faces of DUG Archives - Page 4 of 4

Aug 06

Sharing knowledge and healing in gardens

By denverurbangardens Faces of DUG

#6: Meet Sharona, Garden Leader at Ruby Hill Community Garden

“When I came back from the Peace Corps, I thought, “we are really in trouble.” We have a system that’s based on fossil fuels and it’s unsustainable. The Senegalese were living so close to the ground. They’re farmers at heart. When the rains came and it was time to start farming, they had a skip in their step. I felt more secure knowing where my food was coming from. When I saw the food insecurities here, I knew I needed to work with people on how to plant their own food.

This is such a vital resource that we need to be passing on to our new generations by making our food systems local. I’m still a student. I use the garden as a laboratory and a living library of knowledge. It’s trial and error every year. When new gardeners come in I think, “oh good, converting more people!” It’s been such a treat to see people become gardeners. Even in their 2nd year, it’s like a little jungle in their 12×12 plot.

The garden is a hub for building community. The garden is like a plant: you plant the seed and then the roots just get deeper and more established. It’s taking off on its own. Every garden has its own little culture. Multiple languages are spoken in the garden and it’s bringing people together. So many friendships have grown out of this garden, lifelong friendships. This is how we found each other.

I’m trying to foster “from seed to medicine.” We turned two plots into medicinal garden plots and one plot is donated to pollinators. It’s helping us bridge a gap of what our ancestors have always known. They were plant people, hunter-gatherers. That’s how we got here today. I want to help people reconnect with that again. DUG is a gift to our community. DUG says to us, “here is your gift, now go play with it!”

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June 22, 2020

Gardening through a lifetime

"I come from Africa. I like gardening so much because my parents were farmers in my country where I was born and they had a big farm. They taught me…

denverurbangardens

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Faces of DUG

April 12, 2021

Gardening as a family

"2020 was our first year with DUG. We got approved for a no-cost To-Grow Box. The pandemic was in full swing at this point, and we were spending more time…

Niko Kirby

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Faces of DUG

August 6, 2020

Sharing knowledge and healing in gardens

“When I came back from the Peace Corps, I thought, “we are really in trouble.” We have a system that’s based on fossil fuels and it’s unsustainable. The Senegalese were…

denverurbangardens

Love0

Faces of DUG

October 5, 2020

Building community from the ground up

“I began gardening in my backyard and fell in love with the process of watching things miraculously grow out of the earth. As a dietitian, I love to eat good…

denverurbangardens

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Jul 27

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Finding connection with food

By denverurbangardens Faces of DUG

#5: Meet John and Lily, Shoshone Community Garden

“We lived in China for 7 years, where we met when Lily was my translator on a work project. We like it here very much. I am originally from the UK, and we have a culture in the UK of growing vegetables in community gardens called ‘allotments.’ Allotments are very popular there for people that don’t have access to land. They started as an outgrowth from World War II, often referred to as victory gardens, when there was a shortage of food and people had to be self-sufficient. My parents were avid gardeners, and as a boy looking for extra money, I was assigned chores in their vegetable and flower gardens. I saw the value and effort associated with gardening. My grandfather was an amazing farmer. His backyard was always filled with fruits and vegetables. He became very good at growing everything he needed. He spent all of his time in his retirement years tending his garden and got great pleasure from it. He gave away a lot of his harvest because he often grew more than he could consume.

We are looking at our garden as a work in progress. It is something relaxing that we do together. Gardening has given us such a bigger appreciation for our food. We used to be disconnected from all of the vegetables and fruits we ate. We really appreciate those foods now. Even if it is one little tomato, you think “I grew that!” When you pick herbs and use them right away in your cooking, it is a completely different experience from supermarket cooking. When you throw in fresh herbs, you can really taste the difference. We make traditional Chinese-style soup with lotus root and pork and throw in our freshly harvested coriander. It is so simple but so delicious. When you grow herbs, you can benefit from those really strong fragrances in your food right away. The flavor is so intense; you are capturing so many different essences. It makes a huge difference.

As a boy, I was more interested in the pocket money, whereas now, gardening is life-enhancing for us. We enjoy gardening together and we don’t want to lose sight of that. Once it becomes a chore, there is no enjoyment in it. That is what keeps us focused: gardening is our recreation, and we are doing it because we enjoy gardening. As one gets older, you start to appreciate gardening in a very different way.”

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January 11, 2022

Composting with Kiddos

My paternal grandfather loved the garden and had this remarkable green thumb. He could throw seeds out onto the soil, and lo and behold, it would grow–whatever it may be.…

Niko Kirby

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Faces of DUG

July 27, 2020

Finding connection with food

“We lived in China for 7 years, where we met when Lily was my translator on a work project. We like it here very much. I am originally from the…

denverurbangardens

Love0

Faces of DUG

November 3, 2021

Reflecting on Gardening and Fighting

I’m a first-generation Lithuanian-American. In Lithuania, the culture is very nature-oriented. My grandmother pretty much grows all of her own food at her cottage. It's really important to my family.…

Niko Kirby

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Faces of DUG

August 28, 2020

Finding purpose in growing and sharing food

"I think in so many ways the Master Community Gardener program was just what I needed. It really pushed me and challenged me because of the give-back hours; both building…

denverurbangardens

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Jul 20

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Discovering friendship in the garden

By denverurbangardens Faces of DUG

#4: Meet Rosemari, Ruby Hill Community Garden

“It was quarantine and I wanted to take my daughter to experience the outdoors once a day. I went on Google Maps and tried to look for green spaces that were off the beaten path that wouldn’t be crowded during COVID. That’s how I found Ruby Hill. We fell in love with it immediately.

One of the best things about gardening is the community connection. Without COVID, we wouldn’t have had this opportunity. We haven’t had childcare and my husband and I work lots of hours. Two of my good friends are master gardeners. Asking my circle of friends about gardening has been a good way for me to connect with people about something other than the pandemic, being overwhelmed with work, or childcare.

Gardening has carved out a space for us to engage in something other than the usual stresses of everyday life. I could probably give you the names of 10-15 names of people in our garden, even while social distancing at the garden all season. Everyone is so incredibly welcoming. I have found that you can’t categorize the population in a community garden. Our garden is made up of all different types of people from all different walks of life. I expected to see more stereotypes, but I haven’t experienced that at all. The only stereotype that rang true in my community garden is that people are extremely nice, friendly, and excited to see you. You can tell when people really know what they’re doing, and those people tend to be very gracious and fantastic. One woman we met gave my daughter a flower pot she had grown by seed in her home to be replanted and she said: “Go and plant this in your garden! We are going to be friends by the end of the season anyway, so we might as well just start now!”

To have that during a time when we all are very isolated, to have that automatic welcomeness was so touching and powerful, perhaps now more than ever. I haven’t met any new friends during COVID other than in the garden. There is no way we could have predicted the pandemic, the economic crisis, the civil rights uprising, any of it. We would love to be at Ruby Hill again next year. We like the vibe there so much that we don’t mind driving out of our way to get there. We are establishing friendships there. We would love to share our plot with someone next season.”