This week at Cultivate the youth garden program began. Because of the heat and power outages, we had to put it on hold last week. It is nothing new to me, and it’s something simple, but I got to make use of my phone outreach skills last week and this week. I do not like talking on the phone with most people, so it was good to be outside of my comfort zone. I was also without Internet and power last week, so I took extra time to rest and went to a library to make use of the power, AC, and Internet. As much as it sucks to be without those things, it is a good reminder of some of the privileges I have. It is also a reminder of how disgustingly dependent I am on electricity, AC, and Internet! The library as a resource and community space is something I am very grateful for. Libraries can be critical spaces of respite, learning, and community building. I hope to build a space in the future that has some of the same elements as a library. One of the benefits to working in a garden at Cultivate besides the therapeutic benefits is that it gives us a chance to understand the where and how of our food supply. Most of us have a huge disconnect between our food. People grow and/or raise the food and we know very little about the process. We just go to the store, take it off the shelf, then we bring it home with us. I am planning on using the youth program to teach and influence the kids to learn about power differentials, how to share power, and fun activities like creating garden signs and decorative jug bottle planters. To stay in line with one of Cultivates other pillars, to know neighbors, I came up with the idea to gift a planter to at least one new neighbor in the Milo community. This will give the kids an opportunity to interact with neighbors they have not met. I did this myself last month when I was repotting a snake plant. I went to some neighbor neighbors and offered them a piece of the plant. It was a simple way to introduce myself.

PS, Roe V Wade is overturned. “Women Have Options (WHO/O) is Ohio’s statewide abortion fund. Founded in 1992, we are an organization dedicated to helping Ohioans afford their reproductive choices. We believe that everyone should be able to make their own reproductive decisions—and we work to make that a reality in Ohio. We are a founding member of the National Network of Abortion Funds, which includes more than 100 abortion funds around the United States and overseas.” 
https://www.womenhaveoptions.org/