How A Botanical Nonprofit Uses Nature To Support Mental Health, Veterans, And Local Schools

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A garden can be a classroom, a clinic, and a kitchen—often in the same morning. We open the gate to Gardens of Hope, our 501(c)(3) botanical nonprofit in Perris, California, and share a practical update on how nature-based care is helping veterans, students, and neighbors build real skills and steady health. From a nine-week ecotherapy program with county partners to hands-on life skills training through the PALS initiative, you’ll hear how therapeutic horticulture turns soil, seeds, and routine into calm, confidence, and community.

We walk through the expanding slate of workshops—yoga, sound baths, Reiki, indigenous toolmaking, and permaculture—plus a new homeschool collaboration building self-watering raised beds tied to charter-school credit. A women’s monthly circle is in the works, pairing garden-grown herbal tea with a traditional temazcal sweat and simple, effective skincare demos. For those seeking deeper resets, we host intimate retreats with tent camping, mindful practice, and time to slow down under open sky.

Behind the scenes, we’re launching a grant-backed microgreens lab that trains veterans to grow nutrient-dense greens year-round for home use or small business. We’re also scaling plantings of medicinal, culinary, and tea herbs and inviting support for seeds, tools, and volunteer coordination. Because we operate as a transparent nonprofit with a Platinum Candid profile, donations are tax-deductible, and contributors often head home with plants, soil, or microgreens as a thank you. If you’re local, join a volunteer day that ends with a potluck and an art project. If you teach, bring your course to a space where learning meets living ecosystems.

Want to be part of the work? Subscribe for updates, share this episode with someone who needs a gentle nudge outdoors, and leave a review so more people can find community-centered, nature-based care.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:02):
Well, hello and welcome to the Healthy Living
Podcast.
I'm your host, Joe Grumbine, andtoday I will be just hosting the
show.
Um I want to thank everybodythat's been supporting the show.
We've been growing a lot.
And if you've been listening,you realize that we've had a

(00:23):
huge number of new guests and uha select number of returning
guests, and it's really thecommunity starting to grow.
Um just the way I had hoped andenvisioned that it would.
And um I've been getting a lotof inquiries from people uh that

(00:44):
are listening to the show going,what's up, Joe?
How come you don't talk aboutGardens of Hope?
And you know, the truth is umfor everybody who knows me, I've
been um battling cancer andspending a lot of time and
energy on that.

(01:05):
And while I'm putting a lot ofenergy into Gardens of Hope,
it's additional energy to talkabout it.
But I realized that I haven'tbeen putting a newsletter out, I
really haven't been doinganything to let people know
what's going on out here.
So I thought it's time thatmight not be real long episodes,

(01:28):
but we'll see where we go.
Um, so I'm gonna give a littleupdate, best as I can, right
now.
And uh, for those of you whodon't know, Gardens of Hope is a
501c3 nonprofit uh botanicalgarden located in Paris,
California.
And uh we offer therapeutichorticulture and education to

(01:50):
those in need, and wespecifically uh work to make all
of our services for free forveterans, and um, you know, we
do all kinds of great things outhere, and it is all tied to
healthy living and the healthyliving community, and frankly, I
should be talking about it more.

(02:11):
So um let's just look at some ofthe things in a nutshell because
I'm assuming plenty of you whoare listening right now don't
know the first thing about it.
So we do have a website,thegardensofope.org, and uh I'm

(02:31):
working with a small team on uhupdating the website, making the
calendar accurate, and uh we'regonna be putting posts out.
If we do have a newsletter thatwe're um assembling right now,
and you can sign up for that onthe front page of the new of the
website down on the bottom.

(02:53):
I encourage you to do thatbecause that's where we'll be
sharing most of the newinformation as it comes out.
Um programs that we currentlyoffer include uh an ecotherapy
program, which is uh put on bythe Riverside or sorry, Paris uh

(03:13):
Valley Family Family BehavioralClinic and sponsored by the
Riverside County Department ofMental Health, or I think it's
just the Department of Health.
Anyways, um I worked with theirdirector, Thaddeus Wiki, in
developing this program.
And uh generally it involves anine or ten, I think it's a

(03:39):
nine-week closed program wherethey bring in um patients for
nine weeks in a row, and they gothrough a series of exercises,
um, activities, and the gardensprovide not only a venue, a
location to do some of theseactivities, which often include

(04:01):
walking in nature and writingthings down, making little art
projects, all kinds of things.
And also we provide activitiesfor the patients as needed.
So sometimes we work togetherand we plant or clean or or uh
transplant or any number ofthings, and we connect it all to

(04:26):
the things they're working on,and you know, really therapeutic
horticulture is all about thenotion that being in nature
enhances any therapy, and beingin nature is therapeutic all by
itself, and it's not so muchthat gardens of hope, the
location is uh exclusive tothis, it's getting you to

(04:51):
recognize um go out in natureyourself, go to the beach, go to
the park, go to the mountains,go to the desert, go someplace
where plants grow and animalslive, and you will, and
preferably a place that has somewater, that's generally a sign
of a healthy uh spot of naturein some way or another.

(05:12):
And uh so that is a program.
And if you're local here, um youcan reach out to the clinic um
for more information.
And if you're not, uh we'relooking to engage with other uh
practitioners, other clinics uhto the area, local to the area.

(05:35):
And this is something that youknow is done in person.
So you'd have to be close enoughto drive here regularly to make
that happen.
Um, next we have the PALSprogram, which is an acronym for
Pathways for Adult Life Skills,and this is through the Paris
Valley High School District, andit's essentially 18 to

(05:58):
21-year-old uh special needskids that are, I think they're
funded by the state ofCalifornia to get job and life
skills training, and theypartner with various companies
and organizations, and basicallythey provide volunteers, and the
company provides some training.

(06:20):
And we've been doing this nowfor I believe going on three
years, and uh the program uhtook off, uh expanded quite a
bit.
We had a number of volunteershelping out uh a year and a half
ago or so, and then I gotdiagnosed, and we had to shrink

(06:40):
things back, and eventually wewe had to take a little hiatus
for a few months while I wasrecovering, and uh we restarted
a couple of months ago, andwe're starting off slow and
we're working on training somenew uh volunteers that want to
commit to being a part of this.

(07:01):
Uh, they come out here everyThursday morning, and um we love
working with these guys.
We were working with a groupcalled Inclusion Advocates for a
while, and we may um restartthat program at some point, and
they had a similar program, butit was an older, I think it was

(07:21):
20 to 50, and uh they have somefairly severe cases, but again,
everybody that's come out herefor um you know, when it comes
down to um whether it'seducation therapy or whatever,

(07:42):
it's really been great and uhbetter than expected.
We also have hosted numerousworkshops here, um, from you
know, indigenous medicine toolsto uh planting, you know, we we
have a small permaculture farmand um we grow vegetables,

(08:06):
herbs, microgreens, and as myhealth improves, I'll be
offering more and more classesand workshops.
So that's been a little sparselately, but we've had um other
groups come out, we've had yogaworkshops, we've had sound baths
out here, um, we've hadtoolmaking workshops and others,

(08:28):
um Reiki workshops, all kinds ofstuff.
And so again, if you're aninstructor and you're interested
in hosting um any sort of aclass or workshop, and it
doesn't necessarily have to behealth-oriented because
education is also a focus, butyou know, clearly anything that

(08:51):
has to do with health will beenhanced.
We're also working with ahomeschool network, and uh,
we've donated a section of ourland as to use for this group,
and they are in the process ofconstructing a self-watering

(09:12):
raised bed garden project, andthey're in the process of
getting certified um to teachclasses and workshops um to get
credit for charter schools, andthat's gonna open up a number of
doors um for funding and and uhexpanding programs.

(09:35):
They have set up one raised bedthat has yet to be planted, but
it's in place, and we're alittle bit on a on a hiatus
while we're waiting for theirapproval, but I they're always
welcome to come out here andwork on their project.
Um we're in the process ofcoordinating a women's group

(10:00):
that will be uh, if it works outthe way it looks like, it's
gonna be a monthly activity.
It's going to involve an herbaltea um setting where we'll be
harvesting tea herbs from ourgarden and making tea for the
ladies, and then a Temiscal orsweat lodge, and that's one of

(10:24):
the services we offer, and thenum some demonstration of a
skincare technique or product orboth, and it'll be sort of a you
know, after the sweat, you'regonna get a little bit of a spa
treatment, and so we're workingthe details on that out

(10:45):
currently, but that'll beupcoming um hopefully soon, less
than a month or so.
We have also hosted numerousretreats, um private and group
retreats.
Um we've done.

(11:10):
Excuse me.
We've done some small family andvery small group retreats of
just one to two people um for aday or two days.
We've also done some groupretreats, numerous ones, and
they can involve anything fromspiritual groups, plant
medicines, um sweat lodge, anynumber of activities.

(11:36):
Uh usually it's uh tent campingas we're working on getting some
different amenities available,but for now it's it's tent
camping and and you know justbeing here for the duration.
Um we have volunteer days andand volunteer programs.

(11:59):
A lot of the volunteer activityhas been kind of one-on-one as
my um strength and abilitieshave been diminished recently,
but um as they grow, we'll beputting on more and more group
events.
We have a lot of group eventsand activities planned and um or

(12:21):
in the planning stages, I shouldsay.
Our calendar on the website isfairly accurate and um it's
accurate as it is, but it'swe're working on keeping it
updated as new activities andevents are being scheduled.
Um we have a small farm thatrequires a lot of care.

(12:45):
We're getting ready to begin aproject of planting uh
significant significant numberof tea herbs and edible herbs
and medicinal herbs, and thishas always been part of our um

(13:07):
plan and program, and we'reworking on uh fundraising for um
sorry, I'm saying um a lot, butit's it's my chemo brain right
now.
Uh working on fundraising tosecure the required uh resources

(13:34):
necessary for that.
And that includes seeds andplants and pots and tools and
volunteer time and all of that.
So remember we're a 501c3 and wecan give a full tax write-off
for any donations, whether it'sa service donation, a cash
donation, a uh donation of toolsor resources, um, all of those

(14:00):
things.
You know, we're not asking forsomething for nothing.
We're gonna give you back notonly a tax break, but generally
anybody who participates herehas access to all of the plants
and soil and and microgreens andthings that we offer.
Uh, we always send you home withsomething as well.
Um so as far as volunteers go,we've got to sign up on the

(14:25):
website.
We also are in the process ofscheduling a monthly event that
will involve uh two to threehour volunteer workshop, and
then we love to share a potluckmeal and fellowship, so there
will be that involved, and thenprobably we'll be offering some
sort of an art project activityafterwards, so it'll be a most

(14:49):
of the day event that you canshow up for part or all, and uh
in exchange for your volunteertime, you know, we are able to
offer some of the good thingsthat this garden has to offer.
And then we have our microgreensprogram, and we recently
received a grant to fund a anindoor uh microgreen setup.

(15:13):
It's a small research anddevelopment size, but it's
opening the door for year-roundmicrogreen production and making
the workshop and microgreensavailable for veterans free of
charge.
And so we've purchased a numberof seeds and um received a
number of donations ofequipment, and we're in the

(15:35):
process of planning andpreparing for that.
We're expecting by the year'send uh at least to have a basic
uh system set up and beginproduction there.
We will be scheduling thisworkshop.
A workshop's going to include uhbasically uh start to finish how

(15:59):
to grow microgreens for yourselfas for personal use or possibly
even a business.
We will offer um hands-on, we'llwalk you through the whole
program that we have, give youmicrogreens to try out, and
we'll also be providing all ofthe workshop participants with a

(16:21):
uh a tray set up and soil andseeds so that they can at least
set up one tray of their own,and we'll also have available
additional seeds and trays, etc.
So these are these are allthings that are actively in
motion.
We're working with a number offacilitators and um instructors

(16:45):
on setting up some new coursesand workshops.
We're looking forward to allthat, and as the time
progresses, this is gonna unfolda lot.
So, like I said, this is a sortof a just a really bare bones
update as my sort of feebleright now brain is able to set

(17:10):
out.
But we're excited.
We have a lot of people that arecoming around.
We've been given garden tours,we're looking to establish
partnerships with organizationsand companies, and you know, end
of years coming up, where we'refinalizing a uh donation flyer.
So if you're a business or knowof a business, a lot of times a

(17:31):
business will set up uh somekind of a matching uh donation
for employees to selectnonprofits, and certainly we
welcome that.
And it's also if you're a smallbusiness or a large business or
an individual and are lookingfor that year-end tax write-off,

(17:51):
we can offer that as well.
So uh this is all available.
We're registered with candid, orthey used to call it Guide Star
on a platinum level, which meanswe're fully transparent, we're
vetted through them.
And if you want to look us up,that's we welcome that.
There's a link on the websitefor that as well.

(18:14):
So again, thegardensofope.org.
We're on Instagram, YouTube, andthe website is our, and I guess
Facebook too, our primary pointsof contact.
Um we've got a phone numbers,emails, volunteer signups.
We can also satisfy communityservice hours, and we're in the

(18:38):
process of um working with someinterns.
So if you're interested in anyof these things, please let us
know.
And I think I'm gonna cap thisepisode short and keep it to
where hopefully it's cogentenough for you to listen to the
end.
I want to thank everybody that'smade this podcast possible and

(19:00):
all of your support.
And remember that there aresubscriber episodes and ways to
support this throughsubscription.
And if not, you know, listen,talk about it, share the link,
let people know about theHealthy Living podcast.
Thank you all, and we will seeyou next time.