Saturday, October 29, 2011

ENVISIONING OUR STEWARDSHIP OF THE GARDEN


Our garden has so much potential and there are so many rich and wonderful ways for each one of us to participate.  We can truly make it into a community garden.  Imagine people forming teams according to their interest.  Look at all the things that can be done.  Below is just a smattering of ideas. 

Art & Beauty:
·         Let’s consult a landscape designer (one is on the waiting list) on how to improve the garden.
·         Celebrate trees around the perimeter. Trees represent our connectivity. Their limbs branch out in all directions; they reach up to the sky while their roots grow deep in the ground, providing stability and simultaneously finding nutrients in order to grow. Trees connect heaven to earth and earth to heaven. In Thailand and Bali people wrap beautiful cloth and colorful scarves around tree trunks. Trees at the Academy of Arts at Linekona get wrapped every year with long pieces of colorful patchwork fabric that the quilt and fiber artists supply. We can wrap trees with kapa and hang little chimes from branches. We can designate a tree as a Blessing Tree: write your wishes/prayers/blessings on a piece of paper or fabric and tie it to a branch.  Let the wind blow your blessings around the world.
·         Beautify our meeting place and create resting places around the garden
·         Design a theft-preventing way to secure solar lights in plots and along the pathway through the garden
·         Let artists paint the kiosk and let kids paint the trash cans
·         Choose a “Garden of the Month,” not as a contest but as an opportunity to appreciate the gardener’s efforts.
·         Beautify with recycled art (art made from found objects or discarded materials)
·         Place Balinese flags at the entrance to the garden?
·         Is there enough room to install fixtures to roll up the garden hoses on?

Hawaiian Culture
We are stewards of Hawaiian land.  This land is sacred and Diamond Head crater is a power point.  Let’s honor and celebrate it by incorporating Hawaiian cultural practices.
·         Create a place for making offerings of gratitude like flowers, fruits, stones wrapped in Ti leaves. Or follow the indigenous way of offering up a small portion of every first harvest.
·         Offer ways to learn more about Hawaiian culture and history
·         Celebrate the full or new moon with ceremony
·         Hold blessing and cleansing ceremonies
·         Gather together to make lei and offer other Hawaiian cultural arts

Celebrations
·         Create a calendar of events and feast days to celebrate
·         Share music, singing, storytelling, dance
·         Create a celebratory parade through the garden with singing and music
·         Find members who play musical instruments, who like to sing and can lead a group into singing together
·         Compose songs for our Diamond Head Community Garden (Edgar is working on one)  

Education
·         We have many experts in our garden.  Invite them to share their knowledge, including hands-on experiences in how to make green smoothies, organic plant food, bug spray, as well as, grafting, vermiculture, composting, etc.
·         Put together a handbook of FAQ
·         Arrange for the occasional (free) use of class time in Paki Hale
·         Offer training in First Aid (centipede bites, cleaning open wounds)
·         Offer training in conflict resolution
·         Develop a program and contributing materials for tours of the garden by school children (work with Debbie Millikan at Waikiki Elementary School)
·         Create signs for special plants and trees (Gomes family plot of ginger plants, Christine Snyder 9/11 tree)
·         Create a Children’s Garden plot where children can learn how to grow their own plants. (Maybe the compost plot after it’s moved to another location?)

Healing
·         Grow medicinal plants and herbs
·         Create a Plant Health Team to monitor the garden’s health
·         Heal the wounds of the past with ho’oponopono and other kinds of ceremonies

Seedlings
Anne Alvarez would like to see more people grow seedlings to distribute to garden members.

Projects
·         Build a barrier for the mulch pile
·         Install a new roof on the nursery
·         Sand and repaint the benches in the meeting area and elsewhere
·         Expand the bulletin board in the kiosk
·         Clear plots before reassignment
·         Composting (ongoing)
·         Vermiculture (ongoing)
·         Plot Monitoring (ongoing)

Bylaws
·         Examine DHCG bylaws.  Clarify where needed.
·         City & County administration is working on bylaws.  We may have to modify ours to comply.

Animal Care
Although animals are not allowed in the garden, it’s a fact that the cats are there, have been there forever, and will always be there.  Rather than marginalizing those that care for them, let’s recognize their dedication to, and compassion for, the four-legged ones as a valuable part of stewardship of the garden and the earth (as long as the feedings take place outside the garden).

Elsha Bohnert
October 28, 2011

Elsha Bohnert is an award-winning artist, writer and creativity coach.  She blogs on http://slipwithsnak.blogspot.com  and http://diamondheadcommunitygarden.blogspot.com