Community garden...

   I have never been a 'gardener'. However, I do love to view other people's work. Our neighborhood has an amazing neighborhood garden that I like to visit in the cool evenings of the summer. I enjoy sitting on the bench (as neighbors talk and kids squeal from the swing) and think about how this once empty lot has now become such a thriving oasis.

This summer, I discovered Paul Fleischman's Seedfolks and had a renewed sense of pride. Our little neighborhood isn't fancy, but it has heart. And although Seedfolks is set far-away in inner-city Chicago, the stories in this book capture the stories of neighborhoods (just like mine) across America. Immigrants and long-timers; young and old;  garden-savvy and beginners; we all have a place here.

Three cheers for gardeners and the amazing folks
who bring them to our community!