Green Minds Think Alike

The forecast was not promising on my first day at Green Island Community Garden, yet I was met with warm smiles from Robin, who was helping next door with an older woman in her flower garden that was tucked behind the local church. Stepping into a new garden for the first time is like meeting…

“We don’t have a garden at home,” exclaimed one of the parents as her two-year-old excitedly “tucked the plant into bed” while we planted native plants around the school grounds. She repeated to herself in a sing-song manner, “I am gardening, I am gardening…” Many other children had already slipped on their gardening gloves, toy…

Nearly 900 miles from where I began my journey in New Zealand, I had the privilege of volunteering at the Shetland Community Gardens and Conservation Nursery, nestled between the Arai Te Uru Marae and the suburb of Kaikorai Valley in Dunedin. As I entered the gardens, I was immediately greeted by a canopy of native…

A month has passed, and I find it challenging to articulate each of the life-changing experiences I’ve endured during the first of twelve months of my Watson Fellowship. In this time, I’ve journeyed from Auckland to Wellington, New Zealand, gradually making my way to the South Island while stopping to see as many stunning landscapes,…

During the first two weeks of my fellowship, I volunteered at Kelmarna Community Farm, a suburban organic farm located in Auckland. On my first morning volunteering, I was amazed by the variety of crops in season, especially for a “winter” climate. The farm grew everything from bananas, oranges, and lemons to kale, various types of…

Day 1 Journal Entry: Lylo Hostel, New Zealand “Today I am feeling very alone. It’s not every day you travel 26 hours to end up in a foreign place without anyone or anything you’ve ever known. I keep thinking that I am not meant for this, but I am, or else why would I be…