During one of the hottest weekends of the summer, I found myself driving up the 5 freeway to Arleta with my mask and thermos filled with ice water ready to go. I found myself in a residential community just a half mile away from the freeway exit. Nestled in the corner of the neighborhood, SOW Collective’s community garden welcomed me with valley heat, flowering basil, and summer’s last batch of glorious tomatoes.
It was my first time finally meeting the badass SOW team in person after I interviewed them several months ago before we knew how long COVID-19 would impact our lives and our work. Despite the sweltering heat (it was a ripe 90 degrees at 10 AM), there was a small army of female volunteers ready to help shovel dirt, weed out intruders, and harvest the last peppers, tomatoes, and squash. I was instantly jealous of this community- how lucky they are to have a garden smack dab in the middle of their neighborhood! How wonderful would it be to spend a Saturday morning walking down the street to pick some fresh fruits and veggies, volunteer some time to learn about gardening, and also get to know my neighbors?
Does anyone else suffer from this type of community garden envy? Have you wondered what it would take to have a community garden in your neighborhood? And most importantly- have you considered what the obstacles are to having one? If you’d like to admire/envy SOW Collective’s garden in person, go here for hours and directions, and you may also want to check out what other projects they have going on. It turns out the garden is just the beginning for SOW!
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