Circle of Service

Have you ever experienced "coming full circle?" Yesterday was one of those moments for me. On Saturday, September 8th, 2001 I volunteered at Wasatch Community Garden's Tomato Sandwich Party. How did I learn about it? A professor who later became my boss and friend at the University of Utah suggested it because we had been studying community gardens as part of a course in environmental psychology. A component of our grade was service learning. In 2 hours I learned to love pesto and tomatoes, know the difference between homegrown and Health Food store tomatoes, and I also saw what community gardening could do for struggling youth, neighborhoods and families. Three days later much of the world would watch helplessly at the destruction by a few to an international community. It doesn't feel like coincidence that eleven years later, on Saturday September 8th I stood in awe as 50 students from the University of Utah's service learning program descended cheerfully onto our community garden, a member of Wasatch's network. They accomplished in 2 hours what would have taken our regular crew 6 weeks to do. They weeded, harvested, hauled leaves (prep for next year's garden), and harvested alongside 17 members of Rose Park. I stood and watched, not helplessly, but humbled by what a few could do for my community.

We still have tomatoes, squash, beets, cucumbers, beans, corn, egg plant, chiles and onions. Our Fall Fest is Saturday September 22nd at the garden, 5-7pm. Bring a garden potluck to share and if you can, give a little "green" to help us grow.