We took a Sunday morning stroll on the “Main Drain Parkway” which passes through the most glorious community garden. Watching the changes over the past 5 years or so has been amazing. A few neighbors gathering together, making a difference, planting tomatoes and kale, cucumbers, squash, roses and rosemary, and now, heavy-with-fruit plum and peach and apple trees. First, we passed by Abdul’s garden, cherry tomatoes ripe for the taking. He smiles and greets us saying he hasn’t seen us in a long while. I say we haven’t been out walking much due to the 100 degree temperatures. “Walking early in the more extends your life,” he says wisely. I call Abdul “The Tender of Leeks” because of the beautiful picture I took of him last year in his white flowing robe, sitting on a little bucket in his just-starting-to-sprout field of leeks. He always offers— take, take as much as you want and greets us with such warmth and joy of life. Kevin picked a cherry tomato and he gently prods him to pick one for me, too. We both eat tomatoes, then off for our next course—which will be red plums. Ove, our lead gardener, tells us about his peach trees saying most of them will be gone before they’re ripe—city people don’t know to leave them on the tree. They’re used to buying them hard in the market and waiting for them to ripen. Hopefully, there will be a few to pick when they are perfectly soft and sweet and juice will run down our chins. Then, down along the fence, we nibbled on blackberries that climbed over into easy reach. Our walk was rich with friendship— and antioxidants!
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