Seeds of Recovery - The Impact Sustainable Garden

We're very excited about a new project that's happening here at the Fair Oaks Ave facility right now. It's called the Seeds of Recovery Sustainable Garden. And it's
a beautiful and new idea that's just perfect for us.

Becky Prelitz, Impact's nutritionist, approached Jim Stillwell, Impact's Executive Director with the idea earlier this year and suggested that Impact begin to use the fruit of the grapefruit and orange trees on the property and, by the way, why not turn the lawn which are costly and consume far too much water, into a sustainable garden.

Becky introduced us to John Tikotsky a Landscape Architect who designed our garden for Impact and who in turn brought in a cadre of gardening professionals, including Master Gardener Ned Boyer; some came from CalTech, some from the Arboretum, some from the Pasadena school system, who helped plan, build, and plant a rotating garden.

This very exciting addition to Impact's broad spectrum of programs will give clients, men and women who have just come from the streets, from some of life's most harrowing situations, a chance to "land" in a place of serenity. It will give them what very few have ever experienced in their lives, a one on one with the land, and a chance to watch life happen from a seed to a nuturing vegetable.

Although it will not be enough to feed 135 men and women three meals a day 365 days a year, the benefits of this project are clear to everyone. As always, when Impact initiates a program, it is as a pioneer, with tremendous hope for the growth of its clients, and success will be measured not in carrots or cucumbers but in human lives that find, for the first time, meaning and belonging and even joy.

And oh, for those of you who have been through Impact as clients - we can eat the fruit from the grapefruit and orange trees now! Jim did some research to find out why that rule happened and if we could change it. he called the Health Department and they said that as far back as they could remember, the ban on eating the fruit came from the days when the County spray for fruit flies and there was malathione on the fruit trees. But that's not happening anymore and we don't use chemicals here at Impact. So come on over and pick up a piece of fruit.

Write to me. Arlene