November 23, 2025 • 42 mins
A desert hillside turns brown each summer, but tucked inside it is a living stream, layered shade houses, and a nonprofit garden built to calm the nervous system. We walk you through how Gardens of Hope grew from a family project into a community resource where people heal by planting, pruning, and simply breathing near water. The message is simple and radical: nature works, and it belongs in our mental health toolkit.
We get candid about what it takes to keep that toolkit open. Nonprofits are businesses with bills, and relying on goodwill alone isn’t sustainable. You’ll hear lessons from years of volunteer organizing, the hard pivot toward grants and events, and why a stable website or small paid staff can multiply impact. Then we dive into the programs making a difference right now: county-funded ecotherapy sessions that pair garden tasks with coping tools, a Pathways for Adult Life Skills partnership that builds real-world job habits for special needs participants, and youth mentorship tracks that turn service hours into confidence and skills.
The garden itself is expanding with purpose. A registered monarch waystation greets visitors with host plants, nectar species, and self-guided learning, while a planned field of 2,000 lavender plants anchors sensory therapy and culinary use. We’re launching microgreens workshops—free for veterans, donation-based for others—so people leave with knowledge and a kit they can use at home. Cultural retreats and a traditional Temascal sweat offer deeper reset experiences, and farm-to-cup tea events will bring fresh herbs, simple food, and live music together under the trees. If you’re curious, local, or just ready for something restorative, there’s a path here for you.
Want to help this work reach more people? Visit thegardensofope.org to volunteer, donate, or explore upcoming programs. Share this episode with someone who needs a breath of green, and leave a review to help others find the show. Your support keeps the stream running and the gates open.
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SPEAKER_00 (00:13):
Well, hello and welcome back to the Healthy
Living Podcast.
I'm your host, Joe Grumbind.
And uh today we're gonna talk alittle bit more about Gardens of
Hope.
And for those of you who arejust tuning in, uh Gardens of
Hope is a two and a half acrebotanical garden located in
(00:35):
Southern California, Paris,Riverside County.
And my wife and I have beenrunning this since the
beginning, uh almost three yearsago.
But we've been working thisproperty for over 30 years, and
it's a very unique spot.
It's really people refer to itas an oasis in the desert.
(00:58):
The surrounding landscape is uhhillsides, typical Southern
California, dry, arid, um, youknow, green in the winter and
the spring, but as soon assummer comes along, it's just
grassland and sagebrush, andmaybe a few junipers, um, just
brown as hell, fire hazard thewhole deal.
(01:21):
Um, we got a seasonal stream bedthrough the property, and uh
we've developed it to where itflows year-round, and um it's
really added uh an element tothe landscape that is extremely
unique and extremely healing andextremely beautiful.
So uh over 30 years we plantedhundreds of trees and um created
(01:50):
different gardens, uhgreenhouses, shade houses really
more than greenhouses.
And in 2023, in January, welaunched a 501c3 called Gardens
of Hope.
And the idea of it is that thesegardens are healing, and for
(02:13):
over 30 years we've had peoplecome and go, friends, family,
uh, even people that throughanother nonprofit we were doing
fundraisers that would come out,events, all kinds of things.
And everybody would always havecomments about you know how they
(02:35):
felt better just by being there.
And we had many, many peopleover the years that had suffered
from depression, anxiety, uh,losses, grief, uh, addiction,
um, every kind of stressor, andthey just come sit out in the
gardens for a little while orcome out and help out even.
(02:57):
And they felt better.
And after going to a number ofarboretums and botanical gardens
and looking around at what wasout there, I realized that this
place has everything that youknow another type of a garden
(03:17):
might have, unique to this area,of course.
But I never really saw a lot ofopportunities for what we're
talking about, the therapeutichorticulture.
Ultimately, I learned of a groupcalled the Horticultural Therapy
(03:38):
Society, and they are anorganization that has a program
that you can, if you're atherapist or you know, you're
there's certain qualifications,you can become certified to be a
horticultural therapist, butthat really wasn't what we were
about.
(03:58):
This is more about the gardens,not about you know, certifying a
person to understand theprinciples of this.
And the principles are reallysimple, you know.
Um, there are places like Japanwhere you can go to a doctor for
an ailment that might beaggravated by stress or maybe
(04:23):
insomnia or some kind of anautoimmune situation, and the
doctor will actually prescribewhat they call a forest bath.
And it's the idea is basicallyget out in nature, go outside
and be among the trees and thewater and and and all of that.
And in Norway and and thoseScandinavian areas where it's um
(04:52):
you know dark in the wintertimefor long periods of time, and
depression and anxiety runpretty rampant.
They they do the same thing,they prescribe you to go outside
in the open air.
And excuse me, there arecultures that really recognize
the value of of this, and I justthink it's so simple and so
(05:17):
effective that why wouldn't youknow we create a place where
this was the focus?
And so we did, and we got our501c3 certification in I don't
know, I think February 2023, andwe launched really, you know,
this is my wife and my labor oflove, and you know, we have this
(05:39):
property, so we we loaned it tothe nonprofit.
You know, people don'tunderstand what a nonprofit is,
they think somehow, you know,it's just this thing that gives
you stuff, or maybe that youdonate stuff too, you know.
The one of the things, reallythe only reason why you would go
through the trouble of beingcertified with the IRS as a
(06:02):
501c3 is because you're able togive a tax write-off for the
value of any donation.
So if somebody comes and donatesmoney or um time that is
specifically valued as a serviceor uh expertise, um equipment,
(06:25):
um plants, items, anything thatthat has a value that can be
assessed, we can actually give areceipt for the full value of
that item, and the client canwrite it off on their taxes.
So that's people don't realizeit, but that's really the only
(06:45):
reason why a nonprofit groupwould get a 501c3.
And so in doing so, if youreally think about it, every
nonprofit, if you watch TV,listen to the radio, uh, even on
the internet, any reference to anonprofit is generally with a
(07:09):
handout, meaning put somethingin my hand.
So you go to the Red Cross oryou see an ad for the Red Cross
or any veterans organization orany even a church for the most
part, they're always gonna say,please donate, you know, just$19
a month, and look at what youcan do.
You can help the elephants oryou can help feed some starving
(07:32):
kid, or you can, you know, saveuh uh the ecology or or
whatever.
There's all these differentthings that a nonprofit does,
but they're always asking fordonations.
And I ran a nonprofit called theHuman Solution International for
(07:52):
15 years, and I thought, well,we're gonna be different, we're
just gonna be volunteer andwe're going to just help people,
and everything we get in, we'regonna turn it around, and
everybody's gonna just it'sgonna be real kumbaya, and and
it's such a great mission thateverybody will want to help and
and all of that.
And for 15 years, essentially Icarried it on my back, and it
(08:16):
was through my own personalenthusiasm that I was able to
get people to support and help.
But in the end, when I gotdiagnosed with cancer a year
ago, it crumbled to dust becauseI couldn't carry it on my back
anymore.
And I realized, you know,there's a reason why all these
other nonprofits operate the waythey do.
(08:38):
And it's really simple.
A nonprofit is a business, it'sa type of business where um
instead of selling a good andservice a good or a service, as
most standard businesses do, uh,they offer a service, or
sometimes it's goods, butusually it's a service of some
(09:00):
sort.
And they make it possiblethrough donations that people
can support it, but that doesn'ttake away from the need of a
business to operate.
Uh, there are bills, there's youknow, rent and utilities and
staffing and and you know thecost of a website and and all
(09:23):
this stuff.
And you know, my originalthought of you know, the whole
kumbaya, people will see howgreat it is and they'll just
want to help.
It's true to a point, butthere's such limitations to
that.
The reality is volunteersgenerally are not able to commit
(09:45):
the kind of um time and level ofservice that'll keep a business
running.
And volunteers, you know, aregood one weekend and then they
can't show up the next weekend.
And there's nothing wrong withthat.
That's you know, wheneversomebody can donate their time,
(10:06):
it's it's awesome.
We love it.
But the reality is everyfunctional nonprofit has a
staff, they pay for a website,they pay for their rent, their
utilities, their advertising,whatever it is, you know, they
get some donations, butgenerally they have some kind of
(10:27):
funding.
And sometimes it's things likegrants or um, you know,
government programs, sometimesit's private donations,
sponsors, uh, fundraisers, youknow, there's always the gala
event.
You know, you think about um thehospital, the foundation, the
uh, you know, the MetropolitanOpera, for God's sake.
(10:51):
There's a nonprofit there.
Most museums are nonprofits, andthey all have these gala events.
And what's the point of it,really?
Well, they raise money so theycan operate.
And people will come and they'llspend, you know,$200 a ticket,
and they'll come to this event,and and they'll have some sort
(11:11):
of entertainment and a nicefancy meal.
Everybody gets to get up,dressed up in their black tie
and their little red dress andwhatever.
And um that's how theseorganizations operate, but make
no mistake about it, they're allbusinesses, and in many cases,
(11:31):
uh, the administration, the theexecutive side of things, um,
they're they make good goodlivings.
You look at the you go intoGuideStar or um any of the
nonprofit directories, andthey'll disclose the salary of
(12:42):
the CEOs and and the higher endof the you know the the team,
and you know, there's six,seven-figure salaries.
So Gardens of Hope thus far isall volunteer, and we're we're
working at raising ourselves upout of that because clearly
there's a weakness there, andour ability to offer services is
(13:05):
limited to the ability of ourvolunteers to manage these
things.
And, you know, as much as Iwould like to, you know, have
all kinds of things for allkinds of people, I'm still
battling cancer and trying tomake a living and all of that.
And so I I donate 30 to 40 hoursa week to this nonprofit, but
(13:29):
um, you know, I have to donateor not donate, I have to, I have
to allocate elements of my timeso that I can actually make a
living and pay for all thisstuff.
That's just sort of somebackground um as an update.
I really want to start doingmore regular updates here on the
(13:50):
podcast.
I have more and more people umas a result of the podcast
asking a lot of questions aboutyou know how to get involved and
how to, you know, where can Ifind the information?
That's really the biggest issue.
We have a website, and you know,we had such a nightmare with
(14:11):
this website.
And originally I had used a Wixsite and managed it myself, and
then we had a number of peoplethat said, well, you know,
that's only gonna be good for aperiod of time, and you need to
upgrade.
And and uh we had somebody thatagreed to, you know, was a web
(14:34):
host and a webmaster and knewhow to do all this stuff and was
gonna, you know, make thishappen, but you know, it's gonna
have some cost.
So we ended up spending somemoney.
I thought that was what it wasgonna cost, but just like
always, um, you know, I get hitwith, well, it should cost this
much, and I'm donating all thistime, and you know, it's like
(14:57):
this super, super expensive,valuable thing, and the thing
barely works, you know, it'sit's finally been resolved, and
now we have a functioningwebsite, but in my opinion, it's
not a whole lot better than theoriginal Wix site was.
However, it has a lot morepotential, and as we're able to
(15:18):
get contributing partners, orI'm able to, you know, have the
resources to put to it, it willbecome really a nice world-class
resource.
But there's been so many issueswhere you know the site went
down and we had to recover it.
And it's just it's it seems likethere's one drama after another
(15:41):
when you're dealing withvolunteers and donated time and
things like that.
So, my goal again is to throughgrants and and fundraising and
events and whatever it is, howwhat by whatever means
necessary, we're gonna raise upthe funds to have a professional
uh team work on this website andmanage it, and it won't be this,
(16:05):
you know, constant drama that itis right now.
Um that being said, we've gotsome amazing programs that have
launched, you know, some as longago as th almost three years
ago.
And the concept of thistherapeutic horticulture has
(16:28):
really taken off.
Everybody that has come incontact with it has had a
positive experience.
So for a while we were involvedwith the uh local chamber of
commerce, and again, my healthissues kept me from being able
to really put in the time andeven have the money to pay the
(16:50):
dues.
So we backed off on that for alittle while.
It had some value, um, somespecific value, but the reality
is, you know, it's a networkingtool that if you're gonna use
it, you have to be out therenetworking and schmoozing doing
all that.
Um that's not really for me.
(17:11):
Um, but there's a place for it,and hopefully one day we'll have
enough people involved.
Through the years, we've had anumber of individuals and
families come through for aperiod of time, and you know,
they say people come into yourlife for a reason, a season, or
(17:31):
a lifetime, and the breakdownprobably is like this maybe 60
is a reason, meaning anything,you know, you meet somebody once
and they introduce you tosomebody, or they come out and
do a thing that has some value,or you spend some time and learn
(17:51):
a thing, whatever it is, it's areason.
It generally is veryshort-lived, you know, uh, a
day, a week, a month, whatever.
The seasons I would say areprobably uh 30%, maybe 35%,
maybe a little more.
And these are people that comein for a month or more, usually
(18:16):
less than a year, but could be ayear or so.
Um, and they come in withusually a lot of enthusiasm
initially, but often there'ssome kind of a drama or um a
personal issue, could be ahealth issue, could be a
transportation issue, a lot oftimes it's a financial issue,
(18:38):
whatever it is, doesn't matter.
It's not judging it, it's justlaying it out how it is.
And for whatever reason, umthey're after this season is
passed, they're not able tocontinue, or they aren't willing
or don't want to continue forwhatever reason, doesn't matter.
And then there's the lifers, thevery small handful that you know
(19:01):
the how many people do you knowin your life that you've known
for more than 10 years orwhatever.
Um, usually it's not very many,but they're the the unicorns,
they're the ones that get thethe vision and the mission and
are committed like you are.
They they carry the project astheir own.
(19:24):
And so I think it's hard to say,you know, we're only three years
into it, but I believe we founda few lifers.
Um we've had a number of ofseasoned that are volunteers and
many, many, many uh reasonedvolunteers.
(19:45):
And through this whole threeyears, we've had always at least
some people that would come outregularly and be a part of the
program.
And you know, at one point wehad a guy that was so into it,
brought his daughter, and cameout here virtually every day and
(20:05):
helped us build some of theinitial gardens and was really
hustling, talking about us, andand launched, even got um
somebody to donate a fewt-shirts.
We had an initial um person thatwas even on our board in the
beginning and was very gung-ho,and um even went so far as to
(20:31):
get uh a corporate sponsordonating a bunch of t-shirts and
and the printing and all ofthat, and then had some personal
issues and wasn't able to stickaround.
Through the whole project,though, we've developed
relationships and we've beenable to keep enough of a
(20:53):
volunteer team together wherewe've stayed moving forward,
even going through all thehealth issues.
We slowed down some programs,but we've been able to manage,
maintain, and and even keep asteady growth going forward.
And I think that speaks to theproject, to the mission, the
value of it all.
(21:14):
Uh, we have a program calledecotherapy that is um with the
Paris Valley Family BehavioralCenter, and it is funded by the
Riverside Mental HealthDepartment, or it might just be
the health department, I'm notsure.
But we're registered as a vendorthrough Riverside County, excuse
(21:37):
me, and they bring out patientsand they have therapy sessions,
and we offer uh programs, uh,projects, uh, tasks, all kinds
of different activities wherethey might come out.
Some some weeks they don't needus at all.
Some weeks they ask to be givensome kind of a of a project,
(22:00):
whether it's planting seeds ortransplanting plants or uh
working in the garden in someway, shape, or form.
And we generally tie togetherthe value of that action or
activity with some sort of amental health tool.
And they love it.
(22:21):
It's actually in our third year,we were we didn't have to slow
that project down, even with myhealth.
They were able to manage ontheir own.
My wife stepped in and helpedout, and we're really looking to
expand that right now.
There are a number of clinicsnow that are connected to this
original project, and even ahigh school mentor program that
(22:45):
just came out, did a tour, Idon't know, about a week or so
ago, and they're real excited tostart working with us.
And uh, they've got a program bywhich high school kids that are
dealing with family issues ormight be behavioral issues or
grade issues or whatever it is.
They have a program that's kindof like a counseling um
(23:09):
scenario, and they're alwayslooking for activities or places
to go to take these kids wherethey can be productive and and
get some kind of skill training,uh guidance.
And I love that.
I think that you know, my kidsare all grown up, my grandkids
are a couple of them aresomewhat interested in what
we're doing, but the reality iswe offer something that can
(23:35):
benefit anybody of any age,families, especially.
And I think kids are lacking inguidance.
There are so many distractionsand so many obstacles, and I
think parents generally sucknowadays.
Either they're too um engaged,like too helicopter, too
(24:01):
overbearing, or they don't givea shit and they just let the
kids do whatever.
And somewhere in between is Ithink where you know good
guidance, good leadershiphappens.
And this is an opportunity forsomething like that to happen.
Plus, kids will respond in a lotof times with somebody they
don't know, or somebody thatthey maybe respect for some
(24:23):
reason or another that's notjust because they're older or
just because they're a relative.
And so we're looking forward tobuilding that.
Also, we have a program with uha partnership with uh a group
called the PALs, and that's anacronym for Pathways for Adult
Life Skills.
And this is a special needsgroup.
(24:45):
Um, a lot of these kids are onthe spectrum, or I don't know,
there's various reasons whythey're in the program.
But I guess they have a grantthrough the state of California,
and they pay them or theyreceive funds to um get job and
life skills training.
And so there's a number ofbusinesses that partner up with
(25:07):
the with this program, and thekids come out usually five or
six kids with uh one or two umadministrators or facilitators,
and we offer them a number ofdifferent activities where
they're learning andparticipating in real-world
(25:32):
activities that they could useas a skill.
And they work with a number ofdifferent partners, restaurants,
and other companies, and theyget given various tasks,
probably things like inventoryand janitor work, cleaning up
and and and whatnot.
We try to give them activitiesthat are varied and interesting,
(25:54):
and most of all, they're outsideand they're breathing the fresh
air and they're uh experiencingthings in nature that um have a
value, and we see theirengagement as being real, and a
(26:15):
lot of times kids will come outor you know, kids will get in a
situation and they'll fake theirway through it.
They'll do the least amountpossible to complete a task or
or you know get the thing done.
And I watched a lot of these,because not all of them, some of
them are you know, it's like inany scenario, you get enough
(26:37):
people together, you're gonnahave different groups of
engagement and enthusiasm andwhatnot.
But these kids, as a rule, theyfind themselves, they might come
in struggling or or with somesort of a barrier, but after a
little while, a littleone-on-one, they they find um
(27:02):
confidence, they findenthusiasm, they find curiosity,
all the kind of things thatstimulates the the brain and the
spirit to want to do something.
So we've had a very positiveexperience, and we just recently
met with administrators of acouple of additional programs
(27:24):
through the Paris High SchoolDistrict.
That it looks like we're gonnabe setting up some new
partnerships coming soon.
One of the things that we'vealways done is we've got
volunteer programs.
So as a 501c3, we are able tooffer uh community service
hours, whether it's for aschool, you know, a lot of high
(27:48):
schools have mandatory communityservice hours or extra credit,
whatever it is, but they offerwhere if a kid will come and
volunteer at an organization,generally a nonprofit, uh they
can get credit for that time anduse it towards their schooling.
And sometimes it's court-orderedwhere somebody will go and get a
(28:10):
ticket or have some problem withthe law, or maybe it's uh
juvenile system or whatever itis.
And the court, rather thangiving them a fine, or maybe in
addition to a fine, will givethem community service.
And you'll see people alongsidethe freeway picking up trash.
That's all court orderedcommunity service hours, and you
(28:31):
know, that's a state-run programwhere they say, Well, you can do
that, you get your DUIU, you getyour whatever your ticket is,
and you got a hundred hours ofthat walking along the freeway,
breathing in smog and picking upother people's trash, or people
go and work at a place likeGoodwill or Salvation Army or
(28:54):
whatever, or they can come to agarden and uh become part of a
program where people heal andlearn and and get better.
And so we have offered to thisdate, we've really only done one
event that was specificallytargeting that, and that was one
of our volunteers had a highschool daughter who needed to
(29:20):
get some community servicehours.
So they actually organized theevent, and uh, we had, I don't
know, 20 or 30 kids come out andparents and Home Depot came out
and donated some tools and somevolunteers, and we had a nice
day of it, and we were able tosign off all these hours, and
it's been good.
Colleges also have programs bywhich uh certain programs will
(29:46):
require community service hoursor even intern programs.
We're working, we were workingwith uh somebody in the Parasite
School District.
I don't know that that's stillin motion, but um we're working
on getting the website set up towhere I think we have already uh
uh an intake form for somebodywho's interested in being an
(30:09):
intern.
We have currently one internfrom a student who actually
graduated and she's working onsome graphic work for us.
And you know, I'm I'm figuringthe intern thing out.
I had difficulty in maintainingconnection with some of these
people, but I was also goingthrough um, you know, my health
(30:33):
issues.
So we're working on onestablishing a more solid
program for the interns so thatthe interns will have more
reason to come out.
I know a lot of intern programsactually have a paid salary, uh,
it might just be minimum wage orwhatever, but there's actually
(30:54):
some kind of a payment involved.
And well, we can't offer that.
Yet.
That's part of my hope is thatwe'll get funding that will
allow us to do an intern programby which there can be some kind
of a of an exchange.
We've also not that recently,probably a year ago or so, we
(31:20):
started hosting retreats.
And uh a lot of times itinvolves indigenous groups where
there's either Native Americanor uh South American or just
different um regions, indigenousgroups where they have
(31:41):
activities and um events, andthey will host them here on our
property.
And you know, we have a bigteepee that gets put up
sometimes, sometimes they'reopen-air ceremonies, a lot of
times it's camping involved,sometimes it's just a day or
overnight, sometimes it's aweekend or even longer.
(32:05):
And you know, right now we're wehave a pretty simple facility,
but people have, I don't know, Ithink we've had a couple of
dozen of these things forvarious reasons and various uh
various groups andorganizations, and we're
building more and more of afollowing, and people are
(32:28):
wanting to know more about theseprograms, and um different
groups are making inquiries.
We've even got a potentialinvestor that wants to help us
to upgrade our facility so thatwe can offer more for this type
of activity.
So I'm kind of excited aboutthat.
(32:49):
We'll see where it all goes, butyou know, that's sort of part of
this program.
Now we're only two and a halfacres, but there is a
hundred-acre parcel adjacent tous that we're hoping to um
secure or even secure the use ofand um expand the things that we
(33:11):
offer, but obviously that'sgonna involve expanding staff
and resources and everything,too.
So uh it's part of the future,and you know that's part of what
I'm trying to lay out what wegot going on.
We have a fundraising team thatrecently sort of organized.
We've been hosting weeklymeetings more often than not,
(33:34):
and um we did get one grantfunded to offer uh microgreens
to veterans, and we're gettingclose to launching our first
workshop where we're gonna offerfree for veterans and then for a
donation uh to other folks, andit's gonna be a program where
(33:59):
we're gonna teach you how togrow microgreens, we're gonna
give you some microgreens, andanybody that's taking the uh the
workshop will leave with a kitthat they can actually be able
to grow their own tray ofmicrogreens, and we'll have
those kits available, so that'sgonna be part of that.
With fundraising, you know,there's multiple prongs.
(34:21):
There are things like classesand workshops where people can
um make a donation in exchangefor learning a skill or or or
some kind of uh uh of an action.
There are events like theretreats, or we've had hosted a
(34:44):
number of different types ofevents, like even a wellness
fair or birthday parties or umworkshops, all different kinds
of things.
That's another way that fundscan be raised, and then there's
also um merchandise.
So we have t-shirts, and um, andthen our other company, uh
(35:05):
Willow Creek Springs, hasdonated uh a couple of natural
products, a salve and a lip balmthat are available for a
donation.
And as a garden, we produce alot of plants, plants that are
ultimately going to be put intothe gardens.
Uh, vegetables, herbs, um,ornamentals, cactus succulents,
(35:30):
all kinds of different plants.
And all the plants, if there'smore than a couple, are
available for a donation.
So people that come out here andvolunteer generally we offer,
you know, some kind of anexchange.
So you know you can take take afew plants home with you.
Take some soil home.
We manage, we we mix our ownsoil out here.
(35:51):
Um, take some vegetables, someherbs, all the things that we
make, microgreens.
You come and help us out, weoffer these things to you in
exchange.
But sometimes people want tohelp out just by donating.
And we say, Well, you want todonate?
You know, you can also uminstead of going to a nursery or
(36:14):
a home center and buying a plantfor whatever, uh, you can come
to our little garden.
And if we have a plant that youlike, you know, take it and make
a little donation, and everybodywins.
So that's another element.
We've got a couple of newprograms that we've just
recently launched.
(36:35):
Uh, one is a butterfly garden,and uh, we've had a volunteer
who's very knowledgeable aboutbutterflies and has been
teaching us, and we just gotrecently registered as a waste
station for the monarchs, andwe're in the process of getting
(36:55):
our certification and a plaqueand everything, but uh we're
planting a lot of plants that umare food for butterflies and
pollinators of all kinds andhummingbirds, and we've
established a garden right whenyou enter the property, and
we're putting in walkways andand features, and you know,
(37:17):
these are all things that we'relooking for donations, things
like stepping stones and ummaybe a water feature,
solar-powered lights.
Um there's so many different artpieces, signage, all sorts of
things that can make this be abetter resource and tool.
But our goal is uh throughgrants and donations to be able
(37:40):
to create a workshop by which wecan teach people how to create
an environment that can nurtureand stimulate uh pollinators
like this, and specificallyplants that butterflies or
caterpillars um eat as a rule.
And so this is all somethingthat's currently in the works.
(38:03):
We also are starting a lavendergarden.
So we've been uh we've receivedsome donations and been able to
purchase a bunch of lavenderstarts, little plants, and uh I
don't know, we got three or fourhundred.
I'm hoping to put about 2,000lavender plants on the property.
And uh it's part of a sensoryexperience as far as well as an
(38:27):
herb that can be used uh forteas and food and aromatherapy,
all sorts of things.
And we're also uh planting uhtea herbs and other medicinal
and edible herbs that will beavailable to people.
We're gonna be hosting um teasand we'll be offering uh tea
(38:52):
herbs that we actually grow, theplants, uh fresh cut and dried
herbs, as well as an event whereby which we'll be featuring a
tea, maybe some salad or somesort of uh soup or some food
that we harvest, farm the table,and hopefully offer something
like some musical umentertainment or or some other
(39:17):
sort of uh entertainmentinvolved to have a nice little
event.
Obviously, it'll be a fundraiserto support the gardens and and
that sort of thing.
So and we also have built asweat lodge called a Temascal,
and uh we have a number ofindigenous uh groups that come
(39:38):
out, and we will host a sweatfor uh sometimes it's specific
groups, a men's sweat or awoman's sweat, or sometimes it's
open uh co ed and differentreasons, different ways,
different uh situations, butit's another activity that we
have offered here.
(39:58):
So uh if you're interested inparticipating, uh really reach
out.
The website is uhthegardensofope.org, and there's
a volunteer sign-up uh form onthe site and also ways to donate
and all that good stuff.
So it's coming up on end of theyear, and we just had a flyer
(40:23):
made, and it's for thatend-of-the-year donation
targeting mostly businesses, andit's gonna be going up on the
website, it's gonna be going upon social media, we're gonna be
printing and handing this thingout and looking for people that
are interested in participatingand helping us.
(40:44):
I know that as we gain moreresources, it's it's our goal
isn't to have a giant staff orpay anybody a whole bunch of
money, it's to have afundamentally sound working
business that can offer a lot tothe people who need it and a lot
(41:08):
to anybody who makes a donationto an organization instead of
getting a little token.
Um, we want to be able to offersubstantial resources in
exchange.
And I believe we're really agiant asset to the community,
and we've really only began toexplore the value of what we
(41:31):
have to offer.
So um that's sort of my update.
I want to thank everybody that'smade this podcast possible, and
thank you for listening.
And remember, um, there's asubscriber option if you want to
support the podcast and haveaccess to subscriber only
content.
Um, I think there's a link onthe on the podcast platforms,
(41:53):
and I would just want to thankeverybody for making this all
possible, and we will see younext time.
Well, hello and welcome back to the Healthy
Living Podcast.
I'm your host, Joe Grumbind.
And uh today we're gonna talk alittle bit more about Gardens of
Hope.
And for those of you who arejust tuning in, uh Gardens of
Hope is a two and a half acrebotanical garden located in
(00:35):
Southern California, Paris,Riverside County.
And my wife and I have beenrunning this since the
beginning, uh almost three yearsago.
But we've been working thisproperty for over 30 years, and
it's a very unique spot.
It's really people refer to itas an oasis in the desert.
(00:58):
The surrounding landscape is uhhillsides, typical Southern
California, dry, arid, um, youknow, green in the winter and
the spring, but as soon assummer comes along, it's just
grassland and sagebrush, andmaybe a few junipers, um, just
brown as hell, fire hazard thewhole deal.
(01:21):
Um, we got a seasonal stream bedthrough the property, and uh
we've developed it to where itflows year-round, and um it's
really added uh an element tothe landscape that is extremely
unique and extremely healing andextremely beautiful.
So uh over 30 years we plantedhundreds of trees and um created
(01:50):
different gardens, uhgreenhouses, shade houses really
more than greenhouses.
And in 2023, in January, welaunched a 501c3 called Gardens
of Hope.
And the idea of it is that thesegardens are healing, and for
(02:13):
over 30 years we've had peoplecome and go, friends, family,
uh, even people that throughanother nonprofit we were doing
fundraisers that would come out,events, all kinds of things.
And everybody would always havecomments about you know how they
(02:35):
felt better just by being there.
And we had many, many peopleover the years that had suffered
from depression, anxiety, uh,losses, grief, uh, addiction,
um, every kind of stressor, andthey just come sit out in the
gardens for a little while orcome out and help out even.
(02:57):
And they felt better.
And after going to a number ofarboretums and botanical gardens
and looking around at what wasout there, I realized that this
place has everything that youknow another type of a garden
(03:17):
might have, unique to this area,of course.
But I never really saw a lot ofopportunities for what we're
talking about, the therapeutichorticulture.
Ultimately, I learned of a groupcalled the Horticultural Therapy
(03:38):
Society, and they are anorganization that has a program
that you can, if you're atherapist or you know, you're
there's certain qualifications,you can become certified to be a
horticultural therapist, butthat really wasn't what we were
about.
(03:58):
This is more about the gardens,not about you know, certifying a
person to understand theprinciples of this.
And the principles are reallysimple, you know.
Um, there are places like Japanwhere you can go to a doctor for
an ailment that might beaggravated by stress or maybe
(04:23):
insomnia or some kind of anautoimmune situation, and the
doctor will actually prescribewhat they call a forest bath.
And it's the idea is basicallyget out in nature, go outside
and be among the trees and thewater and and and all of that.
And in Norway and and thoseScandinavian areas where it's um
(04:52):
you know dark in the wintertimefor long periods of time, and
depression and anxiety runpretty rampant.
They they do the same thing,they prescribe you to go outside
in the open air.
And excuse me, there arecultures that really recognize
the value of of this, and I justthink it's so simple and so
(05:17):
effective that why wouldn't youknow we create a place where
this was the focus?
And so we did, and we got our501c3 certification in I don't
know, I think February 2023, andwe launched really, you know,
this is my wife and my labor oflove, and you know, we have this
(05:39):
property, so we we loaned it tothe nonprofit.
You know, people don'tunderstand what a nonprofit is,
they think somehow, you know,it's just this thing that gives
you stuff, or maybe that youdonate stuff too, you know.
The one of the things, reallythe only reason why you would go
through the trouble of beingcertified with the IRS as a
(06:02):
501c3 is because you're able togive a tax write-off for the
value of any donation.
So if somebody comes and donatesmoney or um time that is
specifically valued as a serviceor uh expertise, um equipment,
(06:25):
um plants, items, anything thatthat has a value that can be
assessed, we can actually give areceipt for the full value of
that item, and the client canwrite it off on their taxes.
So that's people don't realizeit, but that's really the only
(06:45):
reason why a nonprofit groupwould get a 501c3.
And so in doing so, if youreally think about it, every
nonprofit, if you watch TV,listen to the radio, uh, even on
the internet, any reference to anonprofit is generally with a
(07:09):
handout, meaning put somethingin my hand.
So you go to the Red Cross oryou see an ad for the Red Cross
or any veterans organization orany even a church for the most
part, they're always gonna say,please donate, you know, just$19
a month, and look at what youcan do.
You can help the elephants oryou can help feed some starving
(07:32):
kid, or you can, you know, saveuh uh the ecology or or
whatever.
There's all these differentthings that a nonprofit does,
but they're always asking fordonations.
And I ran a nonprofit called theHuman Solution International for
(07:52):
15 years, and I thought, well,we're gonna be different, we're
just gonna be volunteer andwe're going to just help people,
and everything we get in, we'regonna turn it around, and
everybody's gonna just it'sgonna be real kumbaya, and and
it's such a great mission thateverybody will want to help and
and all of that.
And for 15 years, essentially Icarried it on my back, and it
(08:16):
was through my own personalenthusiasm that I was able to
get people to support and help.
But in the end, when I gotdiagnosed with cancer a year
ago, it crumbled to dust becauseI couldn't carry it on my back
anymore.
And I realized, you know,there's a reason why all these
other nonprofits operate the waythey do.
(08:38):
And it's really simple.
A nonprofit is a business, it'sa type of business where um
instead of selling a good andservice a good or a service, as
most standard businesses do, uh,they offer a service, or
sometimes it's goods, butusually it's a service of some
(09:00):
sort.
And they make it possiblethrough donations that people
can support it, but that doesn'ttake away from the need of a
business to operate.
Uh, there are bills, there's youknow, rent and utilities and
staffing and and you know thecost of a website and and all
(09:23):
this stuff.
And you know, my originalthought of you know, the whole
kumbaya, people will see howgreat it is and they'll just
want to help.
It's true to a point, butthere's such limitations to
that.
The reality is volunteersgenerally are not able to commit
(09:45):
the kind of um time and level ofservice that'll keep a business
running.
And volunteers, you know, aregood one weekend and then they
can't show up the next weekend.
And there's nothing wrong withthat.
That's you know, wheneversomebody can donate their time,
(10:06):
it's it's awesome.
We love it.
But the reality is everyfunctional nonprofit has a
staff, they pay for a website,they pay for their rent, their
utilities, their advertising,whatever it is, you know, they
get some donations, butgenerally they have some kind of
(10:27):
funding.
And sometimes it's things likegrants or um, you know,
government programs, sometimesit's private donations,
sponsors, uh, fundraisers, youknow, there's always the gala
event.
You know, you think about um thehospital, the foundation, the
uh, you know, the MetropolitanOpera, for God's sake.
(10:51):
There's a nonprofit there.
Most museums are nonprofits, andthey all have these gala events.
And what's the point of it,really?
Well, they raise money so theycan operate.
And people will come and they'llspend, you know,$200 a ticket,
and they'll come to this event,and and they'll have some sort
(11:11):
of entertainment and a nicefancy meal.
Everybody gets to get up,dressed up in their black tie
and their little red dress andwhatever.
And um that's how theseorganizations operate, but make
no mistake about it, they're allbusinesses, and in many cases,
(11:31):
uh, the administration, the theexecutive side of things, um,
they're they make good goodlivings.
You look at the you go intoGuideStar or um any of the
nonprofit directories, andthey'll disclose the salary of
(12:42):
the CEOs and and the higher endof the you know the the team,
and you know, there's six,seven-figure salaries.
So Gardens of Hope thus far isall volunteer, and we're we're
working at raising ourselves upout of that because clearly
there's a weakness there, andour ability to offer services is
(13:05):
limited to the ability of ourvolunteers to manage these
things.
And, you know, as much as Iwould like to, you know, have
all kinds of things for allkinds of people, I'm still
battling cancer and trying tomake a living and all of that.
And so I I donate 30 to 40 hoursa week to this nonprofit, but
(13:29):
um, you know, I have to donateor not donate, I have to, I have
to allocate elements of my timeso that I can actually make a
living and pay for all thisstuff.
That's just sort of somebackground um as an update.
I really want to start doingmore regular updates here on the
(13:50):
podcast.
I have more and more people umas a result of the podcast
asking a lot of questions aboutyou know how to get involved and
how to, you know, where can Ifind the information?
That's really the biggest issue.
We have a website, and you know,we had such a nightmare with
(14:11):
this website.
And originally I had used a Wixsite and managed it myself, and
then we had a number of peoplethat said, well, you know,
that's only gonna be good for aperiod of time, and you need to
upgrade.
And and uh we had somebody thatagreed to, you know, was a web
(14:34):
host and a webmaster and knewhow to do all this stuff and was
gonna, you know, make thishappen, but you know, it's gonna
have some cost.
So we ended up spending somemoney.
I thought that was what it wasgonna cost, but just like
always, um, you know, I get hitwith, well, it should cost this
much, and I'm donating all thistime, and you know, it's like
(14:57):
this super, super expensive,valuable thing, and the thing
barely works, you know, it'sit's finally been resolved, and
now we have a functioningwebsite, but in my opinion, it's
not a whole lot better than theoriginal Wix site was.
However, it has a lot morepotential, and as we're able to
(15:18):
get contributing partners, orI'm able to, you know, have the
resources to put to it, it willbecome really a nice world-class
resource.
But there's been so many issueswhere you know the site went
down and we had to recover it.
And it's just it's it seems likethere's one drama after another
(15:41):
when you're dealing withvolunteers and donated time and
things like that.
So, my goal again is to throughgrants and and fundraising and
events and whatever it is, howwhat by whatever means
necessary, we're gonna raise upthe funds to have a professional
uh team work on this website andmanage it, and it won't be this,
(16:05):
you know, constant drama that itis right now.
Um that being said, we've gotsome amazing programs that have
launched, you know, some as longago as th almost three years
ago.
And the concept of thistherapeutic horticulture has
(16:28):
really taken off.
Everybody that has come incontact with it has had a
positive experience.
So for a while we were involvedwith the uh local chamber of
commerce, and again, my healthissues kept me from being able
to really put in the time andeven have the money to pay the
(16:50):
dues.
So we backed off on that for alittle while.
It had some value, um, somespecific value, but the reality
is, you know, it's a networkingtool that if you're gonna use
it, you have to be out therenetworking and schmoozing doing
all that.
Um that's not really for me.
(17:11):
Um, but there's a place for it,and hopefully one day we'll have
enough people involved.
Through the years, we've had anumber of individuals and
families come through for aperiod of time, and you know,
they say people come into yourlife for a reason, a season, or
(17:31):
a lifetime, and the breakdownprobably is like this maybe 60
is a reason, meaning anything,you know, you meet somebody once
and they introduce you tosomebody, or they come out and
do a thing that has some value,or you spend some time and learn
(17:51):
a thing, whatever it is, it's areason.
It generally is veryshort-lived, you know, uh, a
day, a week, a month, whatever.
The seasons I would say areprobably uh 30%, maybe 35%,
maybe a little more.
And these are people that comein for a month or more, usually
(18:16):
less than a year, but could be ayear or so.
Um, and they come in withusually a lot of enthusiasm
initially, but often there'ssome kind of a drama or um a
personal issue, could be ahealth issue, could be a
transportation issue, a lot oftimes it's a financial issue,
(18:38):
whatever it is, doesn't matter.
It's not judging it, it's justlaying it out how it is.
And for whatever reason, umthey're after this season is
passed, they're not able tocontinue, or they aren't willing
or don't want to continue forwhatever reason, doesn't matter.
And then there's the lifers, thevery small handful that you know
(19:01):
the how many people do you knowin your life that you've known
for more than 10 years orwhatever.
Um, usually it's not very many,but they're the the unicorns,
they're the ones that get thethe vision and the mission and
are committed like you are.
They they carry the project astheir own.
(19:24):
And so I think it's hard to say,you know, we're only three years
into it, but I believe we founda few lifers.
Um we've had a number of ofseasoned that are volunteers and
many, many, many uh reasonedvolunteers.
(19:45):
And through this whole threeyears, we've had always at least
some people that would come outregularly and be a part of the
program.
And you know, at one point wehad a guy that was so into it,
brought his daughter, and cameout here virtually every day and
(20:05):
helped us build some of theinitial gardens and was really
hustling, talking about us, andand launched, even got um
somebody to donate a fewt-shirts.
We had an initial um person thatwas even on our board in the
beginning and was very gung-ho,and um even went so far as to
(20:31):
get uh a corporate sponsordonating a bunch of t-shirts and
and the printing and all ofthat, and then had some personal
issues and wasn't able to stickaround.
Through the whole project,though, we've developed
relationships and we've beenable to keep enough of a
(20:53):
volunteer team together wherewe've stayed moving forward,
even going through all thehealth issues.
We slowed down some programs,but we've been able to manage,
maintain, and and even keep asteady growth going forward.
And I think that speaks to theproject, to the mission, the
value of it all.
(21:14):
Uh, we have a program calledecotherapy that is um with the
Paris Valley Family BehavioralCenter, and it is funded by the
Riverside Mental HealthDepartment, or it might just be
the health department, I'm notsure.
But we're registered as a vendorthrough Riverside County, excuse
(21:37):
me, and they bring out patientsand they have therapy sessions,
and we offer uh programs, uh,projects, uh, tasks, all kinds
of different activities wherethey might come out.
Some some weeks they don't needus at all.
Some weeks they ask to be givensome kind of a of a project,
(22:00):
whether it's planting seeds ortransplanting plants or uh
working in the garden in someway, shape, or form.
And we generally tie togetherthe value of that action or
activity with some sort of amental health tool.
And they love it.
(22:21):
It's actually in our third year,we were we didn't have to slow
that project down, even with myhealth.
They were able to manage ontheir own.
My wife stepped in and helpedout, and we're really looking to
expand that right now.
There are a number of clinicsnow that are connected to this
original project, and even ahigh school mentor program that
(22:45):
just came out, did a tour, Idon't know, about a week or so
ago, and they're real excited tostart working with us.
And uh, they've got a program bywhich high school kids that are
dealing with family issues ormight be behavioral issues or
grade issues or whatever it is.
They have a program that's kindof like a counseling um
(23:09):
scenario, and they're alwayslooking for activities or places
to go to take these kids wherethey can be productive and and
get some kind of skill training,uh guidance.
And I love that.
I think that you know, my kidsare all grown up, my grandkids
are a couple of them aresomewhat interested in what
we're doing, but the reality iswe offer something that can
(23:35):
benefit anybody of any age,families, especially.
And I think kids are lacking inguidance.
There are so many distractionsand so many obstacles, and I
think parents generally sucknowadays.
Either they're too um engaged,like too helicopter, too
(24:01):
overbearing, or they don't givea shit and they just let the
kids do whatever.
And somewhere in between is Ithink where you know good
guidance, good leadershiphappens.
And this is an opportunity forsomething like that to happen.
Plus, kids will respond in a lotof times with somebody they
don't know, or somebody thatthey maybe respect for some
(24:23):
reason or another that's notjust because they're older or
just because they're a relative.
And so we're looking forward tobuilding that.
Also, we have a program with uha partnership with uh a group
called the PALs, and that's anacronym for Pathways for Adult
Life Skills.
And this is a special needsgroup.
(24:45):
Um, a lot of these kids are onthe spectrum, or I don't know,
there's various reasons whythey're in the program.
But I guess they have a grantthrough the state of California,
and they pay them or theyreceive funds to um get job and
life skills training.
And so there's a number ofbusinesses that partner up with
(25:07):
the with this program, and thekids come out usually five or
six kids with uh one or two umadministrators or facilitators,
and we offer them a number ofdifferent activities where
they're learning andparticipating in real-world
(25:32):
activities that they could useas a skill.
And they work with a number ofdifferent partners, restaurants,
and other companies, and theyget given various tasks,
probably things like inventoryand janitor work, cleaning up
and and and whatnot.
We try to give them activitiesthat are varied and interesting,
(25:54):
and most of all, they're outsideand they're breathing the fresh
air and they're uh experiencingthings in nature that um have a
value, and we see theirengagement as being real, and a
(26:15):
lot of times kids will come outor you know, kids will get in a
situation and they'll fake theirway through it.
They'll do the least amountpossible to complete a task or
or you know get the thing done.
And I watched a lot of these,because not all of them, some of
them are you know, it's like inany scenario, you get enough
(26:37):
people together, you're gonnahave different groups of
engagement and enthusiasm andwhatnot.
But these kids, as a rule, theyfind themselves, they might come
in struggling or or with somesort of a barrier, but after a
little while, a littleone-on-one, they they find um
(27:02):
confidence, they findenthusiasm, they find curiosity,
all the kind of things thatstimulates the the brain and the
spirit to want to do something.
So we've had a very positiveexperience, and we just recently
met with administrators of acouple of additional programs
(27:24):
through the Paris High SchoolDistrict.
That it looks like we're gonnabe setting up some new
partnerships coming soon.
One of the things that we'vealways done is we've got
volunteer programs.
So as a 501c3, we are able tooffer uh community service
hours, whether it's for aschool, you know, a lot of high
(27:48):
schools have mandatory communityservice hours or extra credit,
whatever it is, but they offerwhere if a kid will come and
volunteer at an organization,generally a nonprofit, uh they
can get credit for that time anduse it towards their schooling.
And sometimes it's court-orderedwhere somebody will go and get a
(28:10):
ticket or have some problem withthe law, or maybe it's uh
juvenile system or whatever itis.
And the court, rather thangiving them a fine, or maybe in
addition to a fine, will givethem community service.
And you'll see people alongsidethe freeway picking up trash.
That's all court orderedcommunity service hours, and you
(28:31):
know, that's a state-run programwhere they say, Well, you can do
that, you get your DUIU, you getyour whatever your ticket is,
and you got a hundred hours ofthat walking along the freeway,
breathing in smog and picking upother people's trash, or people
go and work at a place likeGoodwill or Salvation Army or
(28:54):
whatever, or they can come to agarden and uh become part of a
program where people heal andlearn and and get better.
And so we have offered to thisdate, we've really only done one
event that was specificallytargeting that, and that was one
of our volunteers had a highschool daughter who needed to
(29:20):
get some community servicehours.
So they actually organized theevent, and uh, we had, I don't
know, 20 or 30 kids come out andparents and Home Depot came out
and donated some tools and somevolunteers, and we had a nice
day of it, and we were able tosign off all these hours, and
it's been good.
Colleges also have programs bywhich uh certain programs will
(29:46):
require community service hoursor even intern programs.
We're working, we were workingwith uh somebody in the Parasite
School District.
I don't know that that's stillin motion, but um we're working
on getting the website set up towhere I think we have already uh
uh an intake form for somebodywho's interested in being an
(30:09):
intern.
We have currently one internfrom a student who actually
graduated and she's working onsome graphic work for us.
And you know, I'm I'm figuringthe intern thing out.
I had difficulty in maintainingconnection with some of these
people, but I was also goingthrough um, you know, my health
(30:33):
issues.
So we're working on onestablishing a more solid
program for the interns so thatthe interns will have more
reason to come out.
I know a lot of intern programsactually have a paid salary, uh,
it might just be minimum wage orwhatever, but there's actually
(30:54):
some kind of a payment involved.
And well, we can't offer that.
Yet.
That's part of my hope is thatwe'll get funding that will
allow us to do an intern programby which there can be some kind
of a of an exchange.
We've also not that recently,probably a year ago or so, we
(31:20):
started hosting retreats.
And uh a lot of times itinvolves indigenous groups where
there's either Native Americanor uh South American or just
different um regions, indigenousgroups where they have
(31:41):
activities and um events, andthey will host them here on our
property.
And you know, we have a bigteepee that gets put up
sometimes, sometimes they'reopen-air ceremonies, a lot of
times it's camping involved,sometimes it's just a day or
overnight, sometimes it's aweekend or even longer.
(32:05):
And you know, right now we're wehave a pretty simple facility,
but people have, I don't know, Ithink we've had a couple of
dozen of these things forvarious reasons and various uh
various groups andorganizations, and we're
building more and more of afollowing, and people are
(32:28):
wanting to know more about theseprograms, and um different
groups are making inquiries.
We've even got a potentialinvestor that wants to help us
to upgrade our facility so thatwe can offer more for this type
of activity.
So I'm kind of excited aboutthat.
(32:49):
We'll see where it all goes, butyou know, that's sort of part of
this program.
Now we're only two and a halfacres, but there is a
hundred-acre parcel adjacent tous that we're hoping to um
secure or even secure the use ofand um expand the things that we
(33:11):
offer, but obviously that'sgonna involve expanding staff
and resources and everything,too.
So uh it's part of the future,and you know that's part of what
I'm trying to lay out what wegot going on.
We have a fundraising team thatrecently sort of organized.
We've been hosting weeklymeetings more often than not,
(33:34):
and um we did get one grantfunded to offer uh microgreens
to veterans, and we're gettingclose to launching our first
workshop where we're gonna offerfree for veterans and then for a
donation uh to other folks, andit's gonna be a program where
(33:59):
we're gonna teach you how togrow microgreens, we're gonna
give you some microgreens, andanybody that's taking the uh the
workshop will leave with a kitthat they can actually be able
to grow their own tray ofmicrogreens, and we'll have
those kits available, so that'sgonna be part of that.
With fundraising, you know,there's multiple prongs.
(34:21):
There are things like classesand workshops where people can
um make a donation in exchangefor learning a skill or or or
some kind of uh uh of an action.
There are events like theretreats, or we've had hosted a
(34:44):
number of different types ofevents, like even a wellness
fair or birthday parties or umworkshops, all different kinds
of things.
That's another way that fundscan be raised, and then there's
also um merchandise.
So we have t-shirts, and um, andthen our other company, uh
(35:05):
Willow Creek Springs, hasdonated uh a couple of natural
products, a salve and a lip balmthat are available for a
donation.
And as a garden, we produce alot of plants, plants that are
ultimately going to be put intothe gardens.
Uh, vegetables, herbs, um,ornamentals, cactus succulents,
(35:30):
all kinds of different plants.
And all the plants, if there'smore than a couple, are
available for a donation.
So people that come out here andvolunteer generally we offer,
you know, some kind of anexchange.
So you know you can take take afew plants home with you.
Take some soil home.
We manage, we we mix our ownsoil out here.
(35:51):
Um, take some vegetables, someherbs, all the things that we
make, microgreens.
You come and help us out, weoffer these things to you in
exchange.
But sometimes people want tohelp out just by donating.
And we say, Well, you want todonate?
You know, you can also uminstead of going to a nursery or
(36:14):
a home center and buying a plantfor whatever, uh, you can come
to our little garden.
And if we have a plant that youlike, you know, take it and make
a little donation, and everybodywins.
So that's another element.
We've got a couple of newprograms that we've just
recently launched.
(36:35):
Uh, one is a butterfly garden,and uh, we've had a volunteer
who's very knowledgeable aboutbutterflies and has been
teaching us, and we just gotrecently registered as a waste
station for the monarchs, andwe're in the process of getting
(36:55):
our certification and a plaqueand everything, but uh we're
planting a lot of plants that umare food for butterflies and
pollinators of all kinds andhummingbirds, and we've
established a garden right whenyou enter the property, and
we're putting in walkways andand features, and you know,
(37:17):
these are all things that we'relooking for donations, things
like stepping stones and ummaybe a water feature,
solar-powered lights.
Um there's so many different artpieces, signage, all sorts of
things that can make this be abetter resource and tool.
But our goal is uh throughgrants and donations to be able
(37:40):
to create a workshop by which wecan teach people how to create
an environment that can nurtureand stimulate uh pollinators
like this, and specificallyplants that butterflies or
caterpillars um eat as a rule.
And so this is all somethingthat's currently in the works.
(38:03):
We also are starting a lavendergarden.
So we've been uh we've receivedsome donations and been able to
purchase a bunch of lavenderstarts, little plants, and uh I
don't know, we got three or fourhundred.
I'm hoping to put about 2,000lavender plants on the property.
And uh it's part of a sensoryexperience as far as well as an
(38:27):
herb that can be used uh forteas and food and aromatherapy,
all sorts of things.
And we're also uh planting uhtea herbs and other medicinal
and edible herbs that will beavailable to people.
We're gonna be hosting um teasand we'll be offering uh tea
(38:52):
herbs that we actually grow, theplants, uh fresh cut and dried
herbs, as well as an event whereby which we'll be featuring a
tea, maybe some salad or somesort of uh soup or some food
that we harvest, farm the table,and hopefully offer something
like some musical umentertainment or or some other
(39:17):
sort of uh entertainmentinvolved to have a nice little
event.
Obviously, it'll be a fundraiserto support the gardens and and
that sort of thing.
So and we also have built asweat lodge called a Temascal,
and uh we have a number ofindigenous uh groups that come
(39:38):
out, and we will host a sweatfor uh sometimes it's specific
groups, a men's sweat or awoman's sweat, or sometimes it's
open uh co ed and differentreasons, different ways,
different uh situations, butit's another activity that we
have offered here.
(39:58):
So uh if you're interested inparticipating, uh really reach
out.
The website is uhthegardensofope.org, and there's
a volunteer sign-up uh form onthe site and also ways to donate
and all that good stuff.
So it's coming up on end of theyear, and we just had a flyer
(40:23):
made, and it's for thatend-of-the-year donation
targeting mostly businesses, andit's gonna be going up on the
website, it's gonna be going upon social media, we're gonna be
printing and handing this thingout and looking for people that
are interested in participatingand helping us.
(40:44):
I know that as we gain moreresources, it's it's our goal
isn't to have a giant staff orpay anybody a whole bunch of
money, it's to have afundamentally sound working
business that can offer a lot tothe people who need it and a lot
(41:08):
to anybody who makes a donationto an organization instead of
getting a little token.
Um, we want to be able to offersubstantial resources in
exchange.
And I believe we're really agiant asset to the community,
and we've really only began toexplore the value of what we
(41:31):
have to offer.
So um that's sort of my update.
I want to thank everybody that'smade this podcast possible, and
thank you for listening.
And remember, um, there's asubscriber option if you want to
support the podcast and haveaccess to subscriber only
content.
Um, I think there's a link onthe on the podcast platforms,
(41:53):
and I would just want to thankeverybody for making this all
possible, and we will see younext time.
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