[Community_garden] Communities and Elders

[yarrow at sfo.com]

At 2:28 PM -0400 6/18/07, jay sokolovsky 2 wrote:
>I am writing a short article about the role of elders in community
>gardens and their role in creating community in such spaces


Here's a short article that touches on elders and gardens and 
community from the local paper.

http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/story.php?story_id=5450

Real Estate - Friday, June 1, 2007

  It takes a ... village?
Good intentions meet great execution

by Carol Blitzer

Fran Adams, a landscape designer who was teaching "Landscaping with a 
Light Touch" through Palo Alto Adult School last fall, was chatting 
with Susan Thomas, executive director of Stevenson House, a senior 
residence in south Palo Alto that houses about 130 people.

In her class, Adams was focusing on how to create attractive gardens 
using less water; Thomas was complaining about Stevenson House's huge 
water bill.

"A lot of the landscaping was installed in the 1970s, in a piecemeal 
fashion, and showing signs of age. I could tell if they did certain 
things, they could save a lot on their water bill," Adams said.

So she brought her students over, divided the group into teams and 
passed out maps of the place.

"It occurred to me it would be good to practice on a place other than 
their own first. It's easier to be creative and see things that are 
possible if you have a little distance," she said.

"Each picked the area that interested them the most. Nobody picked 
the parking lot," she added.

At Stevenson House, the students met some of the residents, who were 
gardening in the low beds behind the dining room. They noticed that 
the large lawn went straight out to the fence but lacked a walkway. 
Sondra Glider, working with friends and fellow students Thea Swenson 
and Jean Hsia, also thought of continuing a new walkway into the 
vegetable area.

"It looks like they have a lot of active residents who like to 
garden. The planter boxes were all used ... but they could use more.

"One of the things we were looking at was how to make it friendlier," 
she said, adding that they chose salvias for the back fence because 
they're low-maintenance, use little water and are pretty. They also 
proposed California native plants that attracted butterflies and 
hummingbirds.

"(We noticed) that residents had dragged chairs out and put them 
under the trees, so we added benches," she said, as well as pathways 
that could accommodate wheelchairs.

Plans were devised for various parts of the landscape, including the 
community garden in the rear, the central courtyard and the area in 
front of the administrative building.

Adams and four of her students presented the plans to the Stevenson 
House board of directors, who loved the ideas -- but lacked the funds 
to execute them.

Thomas next set to work writing grant applications, which were 
accepted by Rebuilding Together and the California Landscape 
Contractors Association (CLCA) as this year's chapter project. On 
Saturday, April 28, everything came together.

Close to 50 people from Stanford University's facilities operations 
group volunteered that day, noted Amy Saunders, administrative 
assistant for the group and a six-year Rebuilding Together volunteer. 
They were joined by Rebuilding Together volunteers from Palo Alto 
High School and about 20 more from CLCA.

"We were lucky enough to have skilled employees who could volunteer 
their time. We did some painting, put some parking signs up (and) put 
an awning over the outdoor lunch area so they'd have shade," she said.

A major project was rebuilding the old, low planter boxes, replacing 
them with boxes that doubled as benches -- meaning a lot less bending 
for the 30 or so residents who garden almost daily.

One challenge to be overcome was removing the rotting boxes and 
replacing them with the new, higher boxes -- all after the residents 
had planted their spring gardens. A compromise allowed the gardens to 
remain intact -- with a promise for volunteers to return at a later 
date to bring the dirt level up to the new height.

While the Rebuilding Together volunteers were rebuilding the planting 
beds, CLCA concentrated on other areas -- including irrigation in 
front of Building A and "lots of transplanting," Adams said.

CLCA and the other volunteers worked on different parts of the 
property, so they weren't on top of each other, noted Rick Camin of 
Camin Landscaping in Mountain View, who chaired the committee that 
organized the annual one-day build job. Much of their efforts were 
focused on putting in a new drip system and many new plants.

Not only did CLCA volunteers (from The Care of Trees, Menlo Park) cut 
down the oleander at the property's boundary because it was blocking 
sun to the veggie garden, but they brought their own chipper to grind 
up the debris, Tom Pamilla, Stevenson House's new executive director 
said.

"They (CLCA) mulched, trimmed (and) put in a sprinkler system and 
more than 100 plants. ... They were here until after dark," he added.

"The seniors were on the balcony cheering," Pamilla said, recalling 
that they came down and joined the volunteers for lunch, which was 
set up outside. "The volunteers could see first hand how important 
their work was to the seniors," he added.

One CLCA project involved dismantling a deck, ripping the boards into 
2 by 2s and building a new trellis -- creating a fine place for the 
bougainvillea to climb.

"This fits into the recycling and sustainability theme," Adams added.

Adams saw the project as the ultimate win-win.

"It was fun for them to work in a group and solve the problem 
together," she said, noting that they really enjoyed the interactions 
with residents. "It was interesting to hear their concerns, what they 
would like. There was some connection to the community there.

"It got them started thinking about how to reuse materials and plan 
for low-irrigation areas. That's what we hope for, to start the ball 
rolling."

"We had a great time out there," Saunders said. "The residents were 
just very thoughtful and many of them brought things out at lunch 
time to say thank you. When you're finished, it's just very 
worthwhile."

Assistant Editor Carol Blitzer can be e-mailed at cblitzer at paweekly.com.
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