Family Album
Barbara and Morrie Granger
— “We like the garden because it has produced visual and edible treats and wonderful friendships.”
Victor Reyes
— “Me gusta mucho todo el tiempo. Me gusta bastante porqué yo mirando las plantas y las cañas. Es muy bonito aquí.”
Darla and Steve Welch with grandchildren, Ivy and Connor Simmons and son Steve
— “My grandkids have grown up here. I grew up in a garden with my grandmother and I wanted them to have that too.”
Jan Muñoz and Tim Crays
— My life changed dramatically when it became necessary to take my adult daughter and her 4 small children into my home in an effort to remove them from a situation of extreme abuse.
The children were 5, 2 and twins 1 year old. One if the first things we did was to apply for a garden box as a family. It was my hope that through the tending of the garden, the children and I could form a bond and develop trust.
That is exactly what happened. Together we have delighted at successful plantings and suffered small planting disappointments (like ugly corn which they ate with relish.) They have met more people and learned more about our responsibilities to the planet from our little community garden, than I could ever teach them at home. Not to mention the constant reinforcement of the values of citizenry. The eldest is so proud on garden day at El Morro school to talk about her tomato achievements at the garden. They now know the value of insects and other life forms and have seen their work first hand as they patiently wait for the worms we use to reinvigorate the soil between plantings.
The girls would rather go to the garden than the park. For me, the experience is beyond my expectations by far. It is my hope, the garden lives on as long as possible. It should be noted that the patrons of Papa’s tacos, young and old sit quietly in our garden eating their meals oblivious to the stream of cars on Coast Hwy. Nirvana.
Jan Muñoz
Myron Wacholder
— “I love getting my hands in the dirt, but more than anything I love the cultivation of spirituality in this community through enjoyment in our garden park.”
Peter Grohmann and Vera Wilmot
— “My office is there (across the street from the garden) and when it gets totally crazy I step out and take a ten minute break here–then I feel somewhat normal again.”
Sally Coffey
— “What I hear most people say, and the number one reason I like the garden is the sense of community, the opportunity to meet your neighbors. I like our special events, the potlucks, and the music. The music is part of the art of the garden. It’s fun to see people in who wouldn’t ordinarily come in contact with one another meet in the garden. They ask the questions and that breaks down the barriers.”
Tom and Gayle Joliet
— “Our community garden park has grown for us an entire network of new friends we would never have had the chance to meet. The experience of working together shaping the land, assembling boxes, moving landscape boulders, building child-proof fencing, etc, is like a mid-west community barn raising, right here in South Laguna!”
(Retired public school teachers)
Ruben Flores and Nelson Coates
— Family is the place you can go and they already know everything so there’s no pressure.
Family is the support of familiarity that doesn’t exist elsewhere.
Family can be some of the best love.
Ann Christoph and Alfredo Careaga
— “Alfredo likes my stopping by on my way home from work and bringing lettuce and arugula straight from the garden. ‘It couldn’t be any fresher than that,’ he says. I like working together with neighbors I had never met before and creating something wonderful from almost nothing.”
