By Emily Frost, Denver Urban Gardens Events and Garden Leader Coordinator
The Bradley Garden Club!When Carol Trueblood retired, she thought long and hard about how to spend her newfound time. Her firm belief in “giving back” prompted her to consider joining the Peace Corps, but then she realized that she didn’t need to go around the world to help; she could stay here in Denver and still do a world of good. And that’s when she found Denver Urban Gardens.
Since then, this Garden Leader, Master Community Gardener, and Connecting Generations Mentor has become one of DUG’s biggest advocates, not to mention one of our favorite volunteers.
Carol’s leadership style has always been all about inclusion and learning together. Her original passion was flower gardening, but once she heard rumors about a community garden cropping up at nearby Bradley Elementary, she started making calls to see how she could get a plot. Someone told her that they needed a garden leader. Carol was supposed to be the helper, but that role quickly shifted into garden leader, and Carol poured her passion into creating a close-knit community at the Heather Reagan Memorial Community Garden at Bradley Elementary School.
Carol describes herself as an introvert, but nobody could ever mistake her for being shy. “When I first became garden leader, I went around introducing myself to everyone I saw in the garden. I said: ‘Hi, I’m Carol! I’m your garden leader and I’ve never grown a vegetable in my life!’ I really wanted everyone to know that we were all in this to learn and grow together.”
When the garden first opened, Carol got the students involved through initiating DUG’s Connecting Generations volunteer program at Bradley, enlisting fellow neighborhood retirees to assist teachers both in and out of the classroom as they shared gardening with a new generation of avid learners. Connecting Generations strives to: strengthen school-based programming around gardens; support teachers and increase use of the gardens year-round; support school science curriculum and improve academic achievement; improve the health and well-being of both the children and older adults while increasing fruit and vegetable intake and physical activity; and strengthen social networks in the school community. When Connecting Generations first started at Bradley Elementary, there were only eight kids who joined Carol and her fellow volunteers for an after school garden club. Undaunted by the small number of interested youth, the Connecting Generations Mentors and collaborating teachers poured all they had into those kids and the garden club. The next year, the garden club had 20 students and a wait list. Meanwhile, the community garden at Bradley now boasts a deeply committed and involved steering committee of many leaders from both community and school, collaborating to make the garden a welcoming and educational space for everyone.
Carol’s enthusiasm for working with kids is obvious, as she excitedly shares one of the things that she loves the most: the way that children just love working with tools. “They like the wheelbarrows, they like the shovels, they like the hoses. They’re just so cute!”
Prompted by her sister, who is a master gardener on the west coast, Carol applied and was accepted into DUG’s Master Community Gardening class, which she credits as being one of the most helpful programs that DUG offers. “You learn not just about gardening, but about people.”
When asked about her experience as a community garden leader, Carol shared a story about how, in their enthusiasm to help out, some of the students pulled out all of her carrots when they were “weeding”. She arrived to find the little carrots strewn and shriveling in rows in her plot. And she had to laugh it off, and decide to plant again. In light of this and other live-and-learn-in-the-garden experiences, Carol offers some words of wisdom on community garden management: “I’m pretty laid back about the garden. There are other gardeners who think that it’s ‘too loose’, but it’s a community garden. And if there is a way to involve the kids, I do it. I really believe that the kids should feel that the garden is theirs.”
“One of the best days of my life was last summer. It was during recess. One little girl, about 8 years old, came up to the other side of the fence and she looked through and said “Can I come into the garden, please?” And I said that she had to ask her teacher but if her teacher said yes, then that would be fine and she said ‘It just looks so beautiful, and so peaceful.’ These kids really get it–they truly understand it.”
DUG is so grateful to Carol and all of our wonderful volunteers, whether they be Garden Leaders, Master Community Gardeners, or Connecting Generations Volunteers (or, like Carol, all three!) To learn more about these programs and how you might get involved, click below.
Connecting Generations Mentor Program
