My uncle taught me to see beneath the rubbish and dereliction, and see its inherent possibility of beauty. And I’m still gardening! Photo of my newly planted home garden on Maui, Hawaii
We didn’t take photos in the ’50s, however the above present-time black-white photo of a derelict lot is how it looked in the 50’s.
I Googled “Brooklyn Community Gardens from Derelict lots” and found a young man’s video who is doing NOW, what we did then. Kofi Thomas of Bushwick, Brooklyn, one of the neighborhoods I visited with my uncle, also saw the potentional and decided to clean up the lot and create a community garden. He now has an organization “Good Life Garden” and is planting gardens in other communities as well.
Watching Kofi’s video was reliving my experience when I was 7 yrs old. Worth the time to see it. Video .
I wrote Kofi and thanked him for taking up where we left off and bringing the community together in healthy ways.
Sprinkled throughout “Peace is Possible” are other posts about gardens where individuals decided to Take a Stand and Take Action on poverty, hunger, education, run-down communities, deforestation. They found ways to help others and their communities through the bounty and richness of growing food, sharing, and empowering others.
“Who in your life influenced you in something that you are still doing with joy and passion?
Share your story and photos.
