WEEKEND GARDENERS DELVE INTO COMMUNITY

San Jose Mercury News, Sunday, September 10, 2006

Program challenges affluent to dig deep
WEEKEND GARDENERS DELVE INTO COMMUNITY
by Sharon Noguchi

Chris Patterson of Los Altos said he used to see the need in the world around him, but just sat around chatting, watching TV and feeling bad. The destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina finally roused him from the couch. He spent two weeks cleaning up flood damage in Biloxi, Miss., with the volunteer group Hands On USA.

The hard work generated a feeling in him that he wanted to replicate. So on Saturday, Patterson, a computer salesman, was pushing wheelbarrow loads of wood to help restore the garden at East Palo Alto Charter School.

The 2,500-square-foot garden, planted three years ago, serves as a science lab, environmental center and social hub at the K-8 school. Students plant, tend, market and eat their produce. It's managed by the non-profit Collective Roots, which hopes to replicate the garden in other schools.

But on June 5, a tanker truck at the nearby Romic hazardous waste plant exploded, spewing a plume of volatile organic compounds into the air. Over the summer Collective Roots ripped out the lovingly planted blackberries, lettuce and other vegetables, even though the Environmental Protection Agency assured residents that the leak posed no health threat. On Saturday, gardeners removed soil and compost they nevertheless fear may have been contaminated.

Patterson and eight others in the "East of Affluence'' project with Hands On Bay Area rebuilt raised beds, cleared out the herb garden and hauled garbage. They wondered what to substitute for a worn drill bit, how to cut chicken wire and what to do about that black widow spider in the worm composting bin.

"God, this is hard work,'' said Lupita Garcia-Reilley, who on weekdays works for an IT consulting firm, but Saturday had just hauled plastic bags of compost to the garbage pile.

Hands On projects often offer a chance not only to operate a table saw or paint fences, but also to learn about the lives and aspirations of residents. "East of Affluence'' is a series of days focusing on East Palo Alto and the Belle Haven neighborhood in Menlo Park. Typically, programs pose questions about differences between communities, and ask, "Do we have a responsibility as citizens to address them?'' said Matt Chwierut, the Hands On team leader.

So volunteers learned not only about the popular garden project, but also about how poor communications kept the school uninformed about the chemical explosion for four days.

They cleared out the soil and prepared the garden for starting over. Gardeners will replant and add a greenhouse and outdoor kitchen. Middle schoolers will redesign a salad bar section of raised beds, which they'll harvest next spring for the school cafeteria.

Collective Roots incorporates gardening into the curriculum. Students grow, eat and sell their produce. The garden helps kids learn the environmental and health effects of food choices, said Serina Eichelberger, garden learning coordinator.
And it's popular in the community: Garden workdays attract 100 to 250 students, parents and other supporters, she said. "It's the greatest thing ever'' to see so many people working together, she said. The garden is "one of those feel-good places.''

On a near-perfect day for gardening, as a gentle breeze blew in off the adjacent baylands, the garden was doing its work.
"It feels good being around people doing good,'' Patterson said.