Good Dump at DMZ
Leaving the church hall with my box of food from Share, I got a call from Dawn that Growing Power was coming to the DMZ with more compost, seeds and plants. When I got there Dawn and Marna, my partners in the DMZ, were already there. Soon the neighborhood children started to arrive to see what was happening and the Growing Power Truck pulled up with a trailer of good compost. Marna had worked out some kind of deal with Will of Growing Power where she purchased and was given compost, plants and seeds for her garden and the DMZ. The Growing Power person gave us some advice and than left. Marna and Dawn had to leave also but the youth and I stayed around for a while to build two new mounds or raised beds. Now we have five, two planted and three we can plant next week. I think, thanks to Marna, we got more plants and seeds that we can use but that is a good position to be in. There is always more garden space available. We started on new DMZ Garden picture page tonight and will add more in the next few days and as the garden grows. I finally figured out how to say some of the names of the children helping us and then they started to give us their nicknames. Some of the nicknames were tricky to spell properly as the real names. I am going to bring some of the pictures along with me next week and have the kids write their names on the back of picture. All the pictures from Jan. 10th on will be dated. Dawn has also been taking pictures and together we should have a good history of the garden.
With the unexpected dump by Growing Power of good stuff at the DMZ my day took some unexpected twists and turns. So I did not get to work much on my own garden but did enjoy a nice walk with my wife through the Veterans Grounds as they celebrated the history of these grounds, which goes back to the days of the civil war and Abraham Lincoln. Some developers try to take over the now valuable land of the historical buildings but a coalition of veterans and peace groups held them off. Actually, now some of the old buildings, like the chapel, are being restored. The celebration of this grounds has grown over the years and as one veteran, hopefully starting a coffee shop on the grounds, said to me: “We can loose the grounds any day but for now we fight on and are making the use of this historical site. Amen. You can praise soldiers and dump on veterans as many politicians are doing these days but together we can win this battle. Maybe we can take any extra plants and share them with the veterans. They have the grounds and gardens can be a healing power.
My friend Godsil sent me an email with the story of how Nelson Mandela during his 27 years of imprisonment was able to build on the rooftop of the prison a peace garden that provided his investors, warden and prison guards with fresh fruit and vegetables. Mandela’s prison rooftop garden, some say, was the healing power that kept bitterness out his soul and allowed him to leave prison as a man of peace that became South African’s first president after apartheid. Gardens are healing and peaceful. I know and hopefully the children of the neighborhood around the DMZ will know. We all need to know that no matter how much you are dumped on in life, living in a poor neighborhood, unjustly imprisoned for so many years, put down and insulted or on the bottom class like the majority of persons were in Venezuela, that with peace of mind and God’s blessing you can rise above any situation.
Comments
(:commentboxchrono:)