Each day is a new beginning, starting with a slow, foggy wake-up in my brain. Then my energy picks up as I remember the smiling and serious faces of my co-workers, like flowers in the sunshine. As I arrive at the garden, a peaceful always sweeps through my being to know the joy and satisfaction that comes with the work of weeding, digging planting harvesting and wreathmaking. Always, I am reminded each day, that the Homeless Garden Project is a "we" and "our" garden project and that the sum of its parts is the very best whole and represents a new unity.
--Leigh Liles

Arriving to work at the Natural Bridges Farm is not a dread as it usually is at jobs where I don't believe in the work I'm doing or what it really contributes to the world. It's only been two weeks but the following is my impression and what I like here.

The grounds have kinda an artsy, funky look to it. We're out here in the fresh air with the open sky about and you feel untainted earth around you. There's lots of life buzzing and thriving also.

I like the attitude of helping and sharing. There's also much tolerance of the difference of backgrounds and personalities. Here I see, up close, homeless people with their different stories and dispositions, while they are happy to contribute as viable parts of society; feeling good about the work they are doing and why they're doing it. Here we all practice working together as well.

The directors are enthusiastic about the project and are more than willing to answer questions and share their knowledge about organic gardening. It's refreshing to have management who cares.

Yeah, it's work, you gotta put your back into it, but here in the crops you see where food comes from and you see the sacrifice that goes into producing it, both from the earth and from working people.

I also see garter snakes, colorful spiders, friendly birds and many insects I've never seen before. To me, that's what organic gardening is about,…sharing with the other live beings, instead of killings millions of them as other types of farms do.

I look around while standing in the field and what I see is the abrupt contrast between boxy, sterile, concrete and steel structures, and rows of flowers and fresh, healthy food, sown with love and for love.

So it's work, but the day flies by because we are where we all belong and there's not such anticipation to get away from it. It's not dreadful work, it's a joy.

Long live the biosphere, and everybody is somebody.

--Gato

Circle Meeting

The circle: unbroken energy. A meeting of wide-ranging personalities merging from all aspects of life; ending a workday in the living fields of Natural Bridges Farm. The women of the Women's Organic Flower Enterprise are trying to find and arrange rides to the farm. Energies heighten anticipating what we'll say on this warm, breezy, wonderful Thursday.

Arriving to friendly "hi's" "hello's" and "howdie's" and from-the-heart "how are you doing's?" An energy of love surrounds us all here at the garden, you know. I heard someone say, "so forgiving and understanding, it feels so good…." We gather and form this circle for a meal of fresh organic veggies that we grow and cook right here, which we do enjoy. Conversation start with someone you work beside, but don't get a chance to talk with, except at circle meeting.

This circle is just that, a circle made of chairs, tables, logs, earth and rocks for us to sit on. We sit this way so whoever is talking can be easily seen, giving each of us unbroken and equal respect. Darrie will see to this.

From 1:15 TO 2:15, every other Thursday this circle forms.

"OK everyone, let's start circle meeting!" a staff member, maybe Chrissi, Patrick, or Darrie might say. An agenda is called for, so many speak. Harvest, cleaning tools, what about the event, the gophers, loss of crops, respecting someone's space, what's happening at the office, how about WOFE, CSA…?

One by one we try to resolve the ideas on this list. You can see when looking around this circle, it easily supplies understanding of what we need to do, want to do, what we are able to do for us. We see what to do to not just survive, but prosper as individuals, working together in harmony, building a non-profit organization that helps the homeless, which is us.

We all come to form this mighty circle with another thought in mind. For circle, (with a YEA!) also means, it's payday.

--Larry Moore

Down at the Farm (news from Natural Bridges Farm)

We started with a great crew this year and they have alloyed into a cohesive group. Their hard work and ability to be supportive has transformed our "circle" meetings into an effective tool for problem solving. I continue to be impressed the group's diligence, sensitivity and resourcefulness in areas that range from resolving differences that arise between workers to legal, medical, and mental health issues.

Mental health has always been a difficult subject for our society to deal with. Even though one in three of us will experience a mental illness in our lifetime, it remains one of the hardest things for us to accept. This year, we have had several individuals take a brave step to connect with the mental health system and begin to address situations that have been limiting to them in the past.

A lack of housing often tends to be seen by our societal myopia as "the problem" that the homeless suffer from. Al though this approach is simplistic, I am always happy when one of our members finds housing, which in the Santa Cruz low income housing market is akin to getting into Harvard or winning the British Open. At the moment, we have three people who have a good chance of doing so.

Another situation that many people in the unhoused community suffer from is being estranged from their family. I see this as a sort of "double homeless," both a symptom and a cause of other profound problems in their lives. When we can resolve a situation that has separated us from our family and reestablish a familial connection, frequently other positive changes soon come about. A member of our crew recently reunited with has family after some years of separation, and I think that made me happy as it did him!

--Patrick Williams, horticulture director
August, 2000 Newsletter

Feeling The Warmth of the Sun Again…

When I came to the garden last September, it was like reaching the beach on Maui after swimming across the Pacific Ocean. It took nearly 7 years. Yet I had never left town. In 1991, I lost my home and my husband of 25 years. My son was nine, my daughter was four, our savings gone. I was mentally and spiritually broken and we were homeless-and this lasted three years.

My fears and my faith were at war constantly. I was afraid of everything and everyone. I couldn't leave my space for days at a time. I had forgotten how to live with people. I was diagnosed severe agoraphobia. Then I reached the garden and felt the warmth of the sun again in my life. Working with the earth, (from clearing the rock from the soil to make the flower beds to harvest) and the sincere care and kindness I have received from the women at 127 Washington has healed so many wounds in my soul that a new skin has grown. I have begun to feel and see the beauty around me in all living and breathing creations.

I can now look forward to a future where I will once again be a productive part of what goes on around me. A year ago, I wanted to end my life. I am now 50 and looking forward to the next 50.

Thanks and praises to the most high and the garden.

-- a WOFE gardener

Some Thoughts Upon My Arrival

I've been in nonprofit management for a few years, and I've often worked with people who were having a hard time coping with hardships brought on by unemployment, discrimination, even homelessness. So before I said yes to the new job in Santa Cruz, I thought a lot about what it would mean to be on the front line again, battling side by side with people who have suffered much and deserve to be angry.

I remembered times when, as director of a small foundation for women, I could do little but listen as a young working mother poured out her frustration at a system that denied her healthcare, or a woman of color shook her fist at doors that remained closed. My role then was to raise money to give away to grassroots organizations run by women. There was a sadness to the work because small grants, however useful, could not guarantee safety or community. Anger - both expressed and repressed - shaped many conversations.

What a different world I've found in the verdant fields of the Homeless Garden Project. Certainly, the homeless men and women I've met have problems. Often horrific, unimaginably complicated problems. But there's a spirit of hope and mutual support that infuses everyone who works at the Garden.

Over and over, as I become acquainted with the men and women employed at Natural Bridges and at WOFE, I hear not about hardships (though many are endured and could easily be described) but about the joy and energy that is experienced by workers and volunteers. And I can easily see why the Homeless Garden Project is so unique; why job training works so well within the context of a community garden. We are all lucky to be here. I am the luckiest of all.

-- Jane Petroff
Jane began as Executive Director in mid May, 2000.

What's Up at WOFE

This season, a crew of six women trainees (Yvonne, Dawn, Marilyn, Mona, Karissa, and Cindi), our Workshop Supervisor, Linda Galion and I have been working hard to make this season successful.

The WOFE garden itself has had exciting developments. We have expanded production greatly-almost doubled! This year, we are not only farming the Washington St. garden, but have added 26 new beds at Natural Bridges Farm. Almost everyday, planting and harvesting have been the two priorities. There is such satisfaction in watching the hard work of clearing weeds, digging beds, and sowing seeds turn into a beautiful dried flower product.

Indoors, we have been working hard also. After our successful 1999 holiday season at our downtown shop, we have been gearing up for another big year. (Thanks to all who came out to support us there.) Candle inventory and the store of this year's dried flowers are gathering. In addition to our standing accounts, we have also taken on a new account on the internet where our products are sold, www.greenmarketplace.com. (Check it out!) Our products are reaching a wider audience every year!

Change is afoot with our crew. Dawn Brandberg has become our first official Candle Supervisor, and Linda Galion, our wonderful and talented Workshop Supervisor, will be moving to Oregon the month of August. (We will miss her!) Linda worked at WOFE for 6 years. It will be a transition time to fill all the hard work that she does.

Thanks to all our volunteers! UCSC interns, community service volunteers, master gardeners, school groups, and everyone has given us a hand. We couldn't do it without the help of the community, our supporters. Thanks again!

-- Cindy Clark, WOFE Director
August, 2000 Newsletter

What's Up at WOFE

As February rolls past us, the exuberant energy of the Holiday season begins to fade away as the tasks that need to be completed in the garden increase.

Lest the Holidays be forgotteni...
With the combined efforts of the trainees, staff, board, and community members, the sales and success of our holiday store exceeded our expectations. We grossed about sixty-five thousand dollars by the time we were done, the wonderful publicity and heartfelt community support contributing greatly. Not only were we donated a store front right on Pacific Ave., we also arranged consignment agreements with a local antique dealer and other artists. These agreements helped to accentuate our flower and candle products and create the beautiful store ambience we were proud of.

This past October thru December not only saw more than four hundred wreaths made by our vastly talented women, but also a sense of camaraderie in creation. As each wreath unfurled itself, constructive criticism from around the room helped the women complete their wreaths with little input from me. This sense of working together to finish product was wonderful and did not stop there. The women seemed to interact similarly when discussing daily events and issues in their lives. There was (and always is) a "working together to work it out" feeling of support.

The men even became involved in creation as we worked with local potters, Steve and Bonnie Barisof, to make candle holders for our tapered beeswax candles. These days were high with the energy of excitement and creation. Working with the clay brought a new twist to working with earth. Out of its garden context, where the earth is the ultimate support for the plants and people, the clay in our hands made us the creators, shaping the earth into something beautiful and useful.

All in all we are happy for our success and we are happy to be moving on. Once again we are back to the seed, starting our advancement towards this year's flower products. Gardening means not only learning to create the conditions you want, but also adapting and flowing with the seasons and harvest, whatever they may bring. I think the past year, including the Holiday season, taught us all about these things as they relate to our gardens as well as our lives.

-- Cindy Clark
Spring 2001 Newsletter

What's Up at Natural Bridges Farm
The transition of winter into spring certainly is symbolic of change in our lives.

This year we are making some changes that will build on last year's successes and improve our training program. We have decided to dedicate more of our land to production crops for WOFE as it seems that the major limiting factor to WOFE's further growth is the quantity of flowers needed for their production.

We are already (as of mid-February) planting some flower crops for WOFE so that the women can get off to an earlier start this season and have more time to engage their creative energies. At the moment, we've got wheat, ammobium, larkspur, and sweet peas, just to mention a few that are poking their heads up out of the ground.

We'll also be increasing wholesale and farmers market crops; this will allow us to concentrate on crops that increase our biodiversity, as well as focus on crops that best suit our land and microclimate. These will include more fresh flowers, herbs, salad crops, and baby spinach.

Of course we will be continuing with our Community Supported Agriculture program, our eighth season this year. We will be offering fewer shares to make room for some of our other projects so please get your share reserved sooner rather than later! We'll have all of the old favorites including strawberries, corn and flower bouquets and a few new friends including Sprouting Green Garlic, Arugula, Komatsuna (an Asian Green), Leafy Amaranths, Purple Orach for salad mixes, the "Radiant" Golden Beet and perhaps some more edible flowers. Many of you will be glad to hear that we will no longer torturing you with any more turnips. All in all you should have a crowded international kitchen if you join with us.

We will be handing out tomato, pepper and eggplant starts to grow in your home gardens where you hopefully get more sun and heat than we do in our little Tierra del Fuego on the north end of Santa Cruz.

Pick-up will be on Tuesdays from 2-6 at the Natural Bridges Farm; we expect our first harvests in June and the season to last through the first week of November. If you're interested in receiving information about CSA, call the office, 426-3609 and leave your name and address and they'll send it to you in mid-March. (CSA 2001 is sold out. Ed.)

We will be adding a small seed production area of endangered heirloom vegetable varieties as a demonstration of how to produce and save seeds. We will be able to teach these techniques to our trainees and members of the public as well as to the many students that come and visit us throughout the growing season.

We are also very pleased to welcome back a number of trainees that will be continuing on into their second year and in some cases their third year. I never forget that our project is about and for them and so it will be nice to see so many of our friends continuing on with us. We hope that you will join with us to make this year better than ever!

-- Patrick Williams
Spring 2001 Newsletter