A Lot in Common
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
Meet the neighbors: Grandpa Roosevelt and his grandson, Joan the single mom, Ruthe the psychic, and Amy the metal sculptor. They all have 'A Lot in Common' when together they turn a vacant lot in Berkeley, CA into a blooming community garden full of lush native California vegetation, eco-friendly technology demonstrations, and outdoor artwork by local artists. They clash over political ideals, runaway pets and public art, yet in the end, they grow a community of neighbors.
Interviews with urban planning visionary Jane Jacobs, PBS reporter/author Ray Suarez, environmentalist Paul Hawken, and Urban Habitat co-founder Carl Anthony, lend context and background to the discussion of the Commons. Landscape architect/psychologist Karl Linn who envisioned and orchestrated the creation of the gardens, provides on-going commentary.
'A wonderful tribute to the visionary landscape architect Karl Linn and the energetic, creative community gardeners in Berkeley...An exciting learning resource.' Ellen Kirby, president, American Community Gardening Association
'A well-crafted, humanistic documentary that kept me thoroughly engaged!' Danny McGuire, executive producer, KQED-TV
'A convincing argument for what Linn calls 'neighborhood commons' as well as a poignant story about friendship and community-building, with all the challenges and sweetness that implies.' San Francisco Chronicle
'Stunning images, captivating story,...a work filled with grace and artistry that goes right to the heart.' Amy Blackstone, artist
'Wonderful, touching, funny, and inspirational...it speaks to the very nature of why many of us think that community gardening brings people together in the best of ways.' Beebo Turman, Berkeley Community Gardening Collaborative
'Brilliant...inspired!' Adam Honigman, Clinton Community Garden, New York City
'It's not just about a community garden in Berkeley, it's about the human community everywhere.' Terence M. O'Driscoll, Station Manager, WNYE
Citation
Main credits
Bacigalupi, Rick (film producer)
Bacigalupi, Rick (cinematographer)
Bacigalupi, Rick (editor of moving image work)
Krache, Maia (narrator)
Other credits
Music, Ed Bogas, Mark Behm, Désirée Goyette.
Distributor subjects
American Studies; Anthropology; Community; Environment; Gardening; Humanities; Recreation; Urban Studies; Urban and Regional Planning; Western USKeywords
WEBVTT
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[sil.]
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[music]
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The big problem is that we have
acres and acres of concrete
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which destroys the microclimate
and is an assault on the senses.
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Bad things happen when places
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cannot live up to the use
that they were designed.
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This isn\'t inner-city problem. It isn\'t a
black problem. It isn\'t a Latin problem.
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It\'s an American problem and it takes
neighborhood action to turn that around.
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Neighbors who know each other feel
more safe about living on their block
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even in dangerous neighborhood. We
do need places to come together
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casual encounters with one another are important
in learning and trust and learning to be civilized
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in the use of the public space.
People too badly need
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fits where they can\'t just hang out who easily
accessible to them where people can meet spontaneously
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day in and day out as part
of their daily routine.
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The neighborhood comments are in
fact these small-scale spaces
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that have so badly needed in our community.
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[music]
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It\'s a real community I mean the name that really says
that the community garden. Really is a community.
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Having the BART train there you
go right under the gardens.
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It makes it a real urban garden and it is an urban
garden and it just kind of always reinforces that to me.
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They said good fences
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make good neighbors kind of thing and it\'s like yet
when I go to the community garden I find myself
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starting at conversations with people
I\'ve never met before all of sudden
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you know on a first-name basis.
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It really helps the neighborhood because
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you get to know people that you wouldn\'t
normally get wouldn\'t have nothing else to do
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if a person walked by that garden and they
wouldn\'t even stop to set a time of day team.
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I don\'t have any experience gardening
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but I have a lot of experience
working with angels.
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I was also talking to spirit guides
about which plot would be good for me
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and they were telling me not the front row.
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It was a group of
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serious gardening fanatics you might say.
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This is so much missing and people can\'t
really meet easily except on sidewalks.
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So have a little vacant space
that people can come together
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to meet this becomes an
enabled (inaudible).
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[sil.]
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But in our neighborhood
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I saw this huge plot fenced
in with barbed wire around.
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It was full of weeds and junk that could have
become a wonderful meeting place of people.
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As they looked into the ownership
of the lot I found out it
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belonged to BART, the Bay Area Rapid
Transit System a contact of the city
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hoping that the vacant lot could
become a community garden.
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Karl took me by the elbow
and began to talk about
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this property that BART owned and at
that point it looked exactly like
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what you would expect a vacant lot that\'s been
overgrown with weeds and had trucks running through it
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would look like with a cyclone fence.
So we started working with BART.
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Karl would call continually nudging this thing
forward in any possible way that he could
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because that\'s how he gets things done.
There was just no grass under Karl\'s feet.
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Karl Linn came to BART
and made a proposal that
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we used this land for something
else besides just providing access
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for our maintenance. It\'s a great achievement
on the part of the community to take this land,
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this raw land and turning it
into something productive.
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Finally they agreed to rent this space
to us that\'s $1 a year agreement
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where the city staff and the BART staff
have to come together hammer out the terms
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and have a document that they can present and say
okay now we\'re ready to sign here on the bottom line.
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It\'s very exciting that we have
a signed contract with BART
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(inaudible). (inaudible)
various community meetings
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despite our eagerness to set aside
people\'s expressed interests and visions
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we\'ve realized we couldn\'t
set aside everybody.
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(inaudible).
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Let\'s face it. Community garden is it\'s
a good thing but there were issues
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my petition my survey
had seven alternatives
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gardening was one.
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(inaudible).
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The response was not good.
It was a mistake.
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I was shouted down and I
got up and I walked out.
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(inaudible)
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The people who were
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less inclined in that direction left out
I think and I\'ve watched this happen
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in other efforts around doing things
together with a large number of people.
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It\'s one of the things as human
beings we need to work out
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and learn it. So it\'s part of our
evolution I think as people.
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Are we going to vote on something or how is that
going to work? Everybody in favor say aye. Oppose.
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[music]
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Since people wanted the garden
to be very special garden
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and started to think what could
be unique about this garden that
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would in fact be an inspiring design. The
thought of the Garden of Eden in New York City
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a very special design was
a circular garden beds
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created by Adam Purple that even
made in the National Geographic.
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[music]
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Unfortunately the garden was demolished.
They wanted to wipe the garden out
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because they had a plan that they want to put
a building here and I didn\'t own the land.
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[sil.]
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Eventually there there will be a consciousness level and
somebody somewhere will say hey that was a pretty good scheme.
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Let\'s try it again. The starting was
a design of the circular (inaudible)
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to me it was the resurrection of
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the Garden of Eden and a West Coast.
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Welcome to our new garden. Well I\'m glad
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you came because we want to build a community
garden here and some work is really
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very difficult for neighbors who just want to grow
vegetables and flowers. I guess you\'re going to divide into
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division of labor that
some teams (inaudible)
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[music]
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I remember when I was
walking around the area
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noticing this piece of land right here near BART I\'m thinking
that this would be a natural for Karl he likes to get
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as much land to the community as possible.
He gets a lot of joy of
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having participation of neighbors and in particular
that there\'ll be a place with people to gather.
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I think his main passion in life is that people
have a place for community to come together
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where it\'s not a matter of money and it\'s
also in a beautiful natural setting.
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So at his last 75 years
what really happened to me
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made me realize how important is to
live in a society that\'s based on
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tolerance and multiculturalism.
I was born and raised
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on a farm in northern Germany and
I grew up in it\'s incredible
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15 acres of fruit trees
that during springtime
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and all the (inaudible) bloom
looked just absolutely incredible.
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It was just like a fairyland.
The farmers about half a mile
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away from the village and we were the only
Jewish family and the huge, huge region.
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I know how difficult it was for
me as the only Jewish kid.
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Then Hitler took power in
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January 1933, my schoolmate suggested
that a join the youth movement
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because had a lot of fun going camping and
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had a real sense of community
and I knew I couldn\'t do that
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and a few months later they realized
that there was a only convenient target
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they could practice on
and from time to time
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could hear the Nazi school step as he walked
on the cobblestone street or the farm
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check it out the house
out and threatening us
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and my experience with racism
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really motivated me to
devote my life to contribute
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to the emergence of a humane society.
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Good evening tonight concept looks at
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a most unusual recreational project and the idea
is a professor Karl Linn German-born psychologist
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who was then assistant professor of landscape
architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Professor Linn brought to the project highly
developed ideas of the needs of people
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and the responsibility of the architect to create an area
whose very shape and feeling would provide a healthy
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and inspiring influence on all who came here. A place
which would bring neighbors together, a commons.
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(inaudible)
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it\'s so designed that people can
be in each other\'s presence
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but not in each other ways. So the
senior citizen needed a place over here
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and the tiny tots right over here
and the teenagers over there
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so we could bring about the read
integration of an extended family
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in the neighborhood context.
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So how many people want flat can
you lift your hands a minute.
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1, 2, 3, 4, 5 plenty of beds here right now
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and latter from it (inaudible)
That\'s what I came here to do today.
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(inaudible) It felt like when
settlers came to the west
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or to the Midwest they
could claim whatever plot.
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After you know racial horses out and then you know
when you get to the you know spot that\'s yours
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but just you know throw down here\'s a dig otherwise
you know someone else is going to claim.
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(inaudible)
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[sil.]
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Karl had said these are the jobs that need
to be done and he made it really clear
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that we needed to step forward.
Okay (inaudible).
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You know it was like getting to the
point where there was this dead silence
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and people kind of just doing the thing and they\'re
kind of fidgeting and looking at each other
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and I think (inaudible) had said Juliana
you should and then everyone else
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starts going yeah you should.
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Of all the people in this group I should do this
and it\'s good you know it\'ll be good for me.
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(inaudible).
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I\'ll help with putting in angels and fairies and
(inaudible). I have a lot of experience working with angels.
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I put in interdimensional gateway
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to another dimension that
specializes in love and I put in
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an interdimensional gateway into another
dimension that specializes in joy.
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[music]
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(inaudible) she was turning her dirt over.
I told I said
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I got something in my backyard would be good for that so
I went got it and brought it over and let her used it
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and she used it to shift her soil
to get the rocks and the lumps
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and stuff out you know. We had
to take these screen sifters
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that we made and then
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(inaudible) but we wanted
to get the stones out of it
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and we had a lot of fun.
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[music]
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The gardens are made accessible to all including
you know people with with disabilities not just.
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If you\'re going to talk about a
community garden that should include
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the entire community and so that means people
who use wheelchairs, people who have bad backs
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whatever and a lot of times that\'s
simply a double raised bed wide enough
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space between the plots to access them.
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[music]
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The (inaudible) stayed with us five weeks
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and after they left the
gardeners finish those tasks
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that (inaudible) did not quite complete.
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[music]
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I think everybody was pretty amazed at me because I was one
of the oldest members of the garden and I was just out there
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shoveling and wheel barrowing
and I felt really very macho.
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[music]
00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:09.999
You find out who has a good sense
of humor and who\'s grouchy
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and who\'s really strong and who can\'t do much
and it\'s really fun to get to know people.
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I really enjoyed the work. I
really liked physical work
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and outdoor work and gardening but
as much as I enjoyed the work
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I enjoyed meeting the people.
Within three months of
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being involved in the garden
I had talked to more people
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and really made more friends even than I had
in three years of living in the neighborhood.
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If you are frightened in the public realm
00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.999
and I don\'t mean frightened of
wild animals or of tornadoes
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or whatever but frightened of other people
you\'re in a place that isn\'t civilized
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because that\'s really the basic
bottom line on civilization
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and there are great
differences in the streets
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and sidewalks the public realm of
a city of how civilized it is.
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This is one reason that people
nowadays are so concerned
00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.999
about community.
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.999
The idea of people feeling that
they can depend upon each other
00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:29.999
in a basic way. Knowing
others and being known
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creates a way for people
00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:39.999
to gauge their real risk on the streets of their
neighborhood to know what\'s dangerous and what\'s not
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in the old neighborhood the lady across
the street who looked out the window
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all the time, the guy down the block
who when you fell off your bike
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knew where you lived, knew
who your parents were.
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We gave that up traded it
in for a new way of life
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but we were so quick to trade that in for a new
way of life that we threw away the good stuff
00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.999
along with the bad stuff.
00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.999
[music]
00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.999
I grew up in a small town in Indiana. I
haven\'t felt that sense of community of
00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.999
that small town until I
joined the community garden.
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I get on my bicycle and I ride
my bike over to the garden
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and then we just chat just like two
neighbors would over the back fence
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stand and talk and do that with
everybody that who comes to the garden.
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Then I walk down the street and
so many people say hi Karl
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to really develop a sense of
friendship I think that\'s what
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it\'s really all about.
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I had always seen Roosevelt\'s grandson
00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
and we\'d always exchanged a few hellos
and waved and things like that.
00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.999
It\'s such a cutie you know I\'d always have to bother
him and so it\'s nice to finally meet Roosevelt
00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.999
because I had already known his grandson.
00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.999
(inaudible)
00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.999
his mother tell me to go find him
00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.999
I say I bet he\'s over in that garden
somebody\'s over there tinkering in a garden
00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
and he\'s over there watching him or
something that\'s usually where he\'d be it.
00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
He stays busy doing something all of the
time. He\'s not playing video games.
00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
Can I help you granddaddy?
What are you doing you know
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he\'s always asking questions you know.
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Amy is my daughter. She was just barely
walking when this all got started.
00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
Kids and dirt, kids and garden, kids
and water, kids, water and dirt
00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
are the perfect trio. We
don\'t have a backyard
00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
and the gardens only half a block away.
So we would come over to the garden
00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
and she would help me
work and dig and plant.
00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
She\'s really at home there.
00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
(inaudible) One group activity. (inaudible)
00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:33.000
[music]
00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
So cooperative effort of
people who live in a black
00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
we can nurture extended family
living because every person
00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
who lives in a plot is something
unique to contribute to the building
00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
even little kids like to play and like
to be of help, like (inaudible) did,
00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
and his relation to his grandfather
they helped each other.
00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
All ages have something
00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
to contribute to each other.
00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
[music]
00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
Just like in a family or
in any other community
00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
problems develop. One day
one of the gardener\'s
00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
showed up with a free roll of sod that
she had received. She came to the garden
00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
and she rolled it out in front of the garden
where everyone in the community could see it.
00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
Is representing the perimeter committee
which is the committee that\'s trying to say
00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
what we should plant in the borders. Somebody
came up and wanted to give the nursery
00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
this sod which is grass
and the woman said no
00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
she didn\'t want it. I ran out to the streets,
stopped the driver from taking it to dump
00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
and that\'s how I got the
grass that\'s in front.
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
And she was telling us she was so
excited like oh look at what I got
00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
you know for free and isn\'t this so great and
meanwhile you know there\'s people in our group
00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
who were just like devastated who you know
00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
would rather see piles of
bricks and barbed wire there
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
than you know grass.
00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
When I saw the sod there (inaudible) fainted
(inaudible) of the low water movement.
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
Grass was just like a horrendous mistake.
00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
And I would like a grass lawn I could never
own to have (inaudible) have a grass lawn
00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
and I think it would be pretty the flowers and roses or
something along the side of it. I know I think the lawn is
00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
like we have idea that we have a
nice lawn in order but I think
00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
it\'s environmentally that the worst thing.
00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
Lawns were invented in the 17th century by
very wealthy you know feudal lords in England
00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
who were showing and demonstrating their opulent
wealth by having a green sward a meadow
00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
that could be cut by size
and not grazed by animals.
00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
In other words it was conspicuous consumption
saying I have this meadow upon which
00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
I need no animals whatsoever and I can just cut
the grass and throw it away. Grass was like gold
00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
so valuable and so we still
have after hundreds of years
00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
what we have is you know American
man on Sundays or Saturdays
00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
with their little power mowers going back and forth
on these little strips of lawn and they\'re clueless
00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
as to what a lawn is, what it means, where it
came from except it is green and short clipped.
00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
Out get that shove out.
00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
This sounds very political to me.
00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
(inaudible)
00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
All hands in favor of sod. Okay all hands
00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
against sod, oppose. (inaudible) okay.
00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
Everybody agreed that the sod had to go. So
Ruth went home dragging your tail behind her
00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
and we didn\'t see her for a while.
00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:23.000
[music]
00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
That is our garden you see
00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
with the marigolds over there.
00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
Here it is and I will tell you
00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
what we did to make this.
Just planted the marigold.
00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
These I think are corns I don\'t know
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
and these are pumpkins that
haven\'t grown any plants yet
00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
but actually they have
some plants but they are…
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
they haven\'t thrown any pumpkins.
00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
Underlying you know premises
that reverb is it\'s really
00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
it\'s an attempt to reclaim the commons because
the commons was enclosed is being enclosed
00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
constantly once it was people\'s birthright
there\'s a sustainable relationship
00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
to natural environment.
Common land in the UK
00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
is a survival from the 10th, 11th centuries
00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
when the king divided up land and
there was a general sense of
00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
what was called common law that related to
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
all people having an access
to a piece of ground.
00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
The idea was that
00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
there was a piece of land that
everybody in the village could use.
00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
The few animals you had
could pasture there.
00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
You could put your cow out. This is why
you\'ll find commons in New England.
00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
We really think of it as parkland today
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
since so few of us herd sheep but
00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
the idea is that we all have a stake in it.
00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
The commons was the people\'s park,
for them to use not just to
00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
use the way they were
told here you may swim,
00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
here you may walk, here
you may rollerblade.
00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
Initially you know all natural area the call
the commons say as they call the commons today
00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
so as waters, the air, the atmosphere
00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
and the land belong to everybody.
00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
Over the last seven, eight hundred
years in successive stages
00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
those common lands have been incorporated
00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
into private ownership. They\'ve been this
00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
successive dispossession of land.
The commons shrunk and shrunk
00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
until you have a little place that
people can graze sheep and so on thing
00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
gets smaller and smaller on the side of the
(inaudible) gets more than this little piece left
00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
and now the last pieces being threatened
with extinction. So the whole reclaiming
00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
you can work backwards too.
You start some little one
00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
and then you more more and more.
So we\'re making the point
00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
in reclaiming the commons to build
community. It\'s really that\'s what you…
00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
We are allowing this function right over here right now
where this woman is helping this blind man garden.
00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
That\'s just exquisite
beyond (inaudible) just
00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
(inaudible) too.
00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
And that\'s remain. But it\'s better now.
00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
Yeah everything\'s up.
00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
Yeah spinach is up.
00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
(inaudible) for a couple weeks wait.
00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
So that made the planting pretty easy.
Yeah it\'s literally instant going.
00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
Very fast.
00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
[music]
00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
We\'re going to make it handicapped ready
00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
so a wheelchair could go across well
for a wheelchair to go across sand
00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
is not what you\'d call an easy process.
00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
I think access is crucial
00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
on all levels. I think we should be
a model for other community gardens
00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
around the country and world that you know access
should be one of the first things started.
00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:08.000
[music]
00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
So which one is your plant. (inaudible)
00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
(inaudible) You got to
get some work done here.
00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
We just got in today. You did.
I see. You are lucky.
00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
(inaudible) there aren\'t many left.
You might be the last one.
00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
[sil.]
00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
Working with Karl Linn is a mixed bag
00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
and for me personally
00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
I loved it because you know I say this now.
00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
(inaudible)
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
Sometimes there was a point where I\'d
come home and play my answering machine
00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
and I see you know and I see oh
five messages I\'m like alright
00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
you know because you\'re so excited to get all these
messages and every single one of them is from Karl.
00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
(inaudible)
00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
I would like to show you this side.
You know
00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
umm… talk to Roosevelt about this oh you know
don\'t forget to pick up these flyers on this
00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
and oh you know and and I\'m going you know at the
moment you know I\'m just writing this stuff down
00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
and going oh geez you
know what a slave driver.
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
And in the meantime that fell in that
careful is you don\'t spit on the sand.
00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
He\'s a good person. He\'s good hearted.
He has good intentions
00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
but there is another side of Karl and
that is it\'s a he\'s a control freak.
00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
He wants to be in control of everything.
00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
(inaudible).
00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
And here we are at the community
garden and then we have this
00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
old duffer telling us what to
do and he won\'t accept no.
00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
I once told Carl
00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
he was one of the few leaders I ever met
who knew what democracy was and I think
00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
there\'s a certain truth in that. I think Karl
if you have to push Karl I think to step back
00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
but he will and my respect. I
respect a lot of his work.
00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
I think his work has really been great.
00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:48.000
[music]
00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
Everybody got different ideas and
gardening is real tricky. You never know
00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
when you plan to seed if the
seed is going to produce.
00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
Some people can put a
hundred seeds in the ground
00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
and won\'t get nothing you know that
other people can put ten seeds in there
00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
may get ten plants you know.
So it\'s like I say
00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
it\'s a mystery.
00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:28.000
[sil.]
00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
At some point in the future we\'re going to
have to use materials a lot more wisely than
00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
we\'ve had to certainly in the past century.
So structural material bamboo is
00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
a really great candidate for
the… the future way of building.
00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
So we did a workshop to build a trellis
00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
at the Peralta community garden. It was a good opportunity
to kind of introduce a lot of people to some basic ideas.
00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
You want to lift it straight
up and then take it here.
00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
We will just take it over where Karl says.
So the idea is that we\'re going to
00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
we\'re going to build six of these and what
we will wind up doing today is to get
00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
the bolts in and get the mortar into
some of the joints so we can have it
00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
set up overnight.
00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
It lends itself well to working in a group
00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
and that\'s been the traditional way
of working with bamboo and in Asia
00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
and in South America is that you work with the
people and your in your family in your community
00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
I think that makes a lot of sense.
So we just go home.
00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
So this concept of cooperation to meet
not only the needs of individuals
00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
but also the needs of the community
was really a very important concept
00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
for the Mennonites. When they had a big task
that could not be done by an individual family.
00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
When they were ready to build a barn they would
invite all the neighboring families from miles around
00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
and they would have this huge celebration
and it would raise the barn together.
00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
[music]
00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
And as we looked around the world in fact one of
the things that I found of this tradition is alive
00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
and well in Africa. I travel for example
to Mali and I saw this very same tradition
00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
operating when people had to rebuild the mosque to meet
their shared needs and the whole community came together.
00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
[music]
00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
As you vote together building our (inaudible)
and be engaged in urban bound raising
00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
(inaudible) something together
if you could never do alone.
00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
The notion of urban barn raising
is to try to restore or to reclaim
00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
these traditions for people
who are living in cities.
00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
The results were we\'re wonderful. We built
something that I think will last a long time
00:34:55.000 --> 00:35:00.000
and it came out very well.
00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
(inaudible) and here is the recipe that I learned
for compost. Where you take a little banana peel
00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
leftovers from your last meal
and everything except the steak
00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
goes in a compost kit. The dedication of
the garden was a really exciting time.
00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
It\'s really fun. We worked so hard
00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
and I think the two months or
so right before the dedication
00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
just everybody really looked forward to it and it was a
big event and exciting for all of us and that was fun.
00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:43.000
[music]
00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
Hi welcome and good afternoon to everybody
I\'m (inaudible). I\'m the coordinator.
00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
Being MC I was kind of nervous about that.
I\'d never really done
00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
anything like that before. I know it\'s
important to you it\'s important to us
00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
at BART also and I think I speak
on behalf of all of the members of
00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
the Board of Directors to say that
we\'re very delighted that you saw
00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
fit to do this. To all of the people
here who put their backs into it
00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
and their sweat into it and who make
this… this happen thank you so much
00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
we need one on every block
in every neighborhood.
00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:33.000
[music]
00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
What we could do now all together this
take your mineral dust let\'s bend now
00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
low to the earth all together.
00:36:55.000 --> 00:37:03.000
[music]
00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
I\'ve been making the gate for the community
garden. I do sculpture out of metal.
00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
I use a plasma torch
00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
to cut it and I work pretty quickly that\'s
part of how I get the liveliness in it
00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
it\'s by working sort of quickly.
00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
I like to use recycled scrap and there\'s
something really fun to go to a junkyard
00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
and turn some useless rack into
00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
a joyous critter flying through the air.
00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
[sil.]
00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
I like animals and they sort of
spring to me sometimes in the scrap
00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
what I\'ve cut away I can
see animals or critters
00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
in the cutaway part. It really is
like a five year old with a torch.
00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
[music]
00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
I love gardening as well
so to put the two together
00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
art and gardening was exciting to me
00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
plus it was nice to get to meet other artists because I
think art you can be working a little bit in isolation.
00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
So to work where the community
was really exciting.
00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:13.000
[music]
00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
My name is Dmitry Grudsky. I\'m a traveler
00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
like an adventurer back in Russia
the city where I\'m from is
00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
a Tashkent it\'s the capital of Uzbekistan.
00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
It\'s a small Republic. It used to be
small Republic now it\'s a small country
00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
because my profession is
artists visual artists
00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
inspirational form of my benches is snakes,
00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
snakes movement. So it gives you
kind of nature graphic design
00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
snakes kind of following each other.
00:39:55.000 --> 00:40:03.000
[music]
00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
Well the red-tailed hawk
00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
it\'s a bird that is still here and
we can see it flying above us
00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
and so the idea of bringing that
into the garden was to create
00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
some sense of being closer
to what\'s wild around.
00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
First feeling now when I walk into
the gardens is this feeling of
00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
it\'s kind of like a wonderland. I think
some of that has to do with the art
00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
that\'s around also as you walk in just everywhere
there\'s like there\'s glitters of beauty.
00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
It\'s the flowers and the plants
and then there\'s this added
00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
sense of these extra little things what are
they and then of course there\'s people.
00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
[music]
00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
And this I think actually too is what this.
00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
See can you imagine.
00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
They have got overgrown but I bet you if you
cut it out it\'s still pretty good. I bet you.
00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
I haven\'t tried but I\'m going
to give to one of the kids.
00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
[sil.]
00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
(inaudible) and he is my
(inaudible) you\'re in the camera.
00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
I take a (inaudible) to the garden
fairly frequently for exercise.
00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
Politically he was incorrect in
the beginning days of the garden
00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
because he jumped into Jones
plot on several occasions.
00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
We all thought it was a good idea to have
00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
our pets leashed and tied when they were in
the garden. The rabbit was not on the leash
00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
and it happened to be sitting in
my plot so I was kind of like
00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
I was worried about my garden basically.
00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
Ruth what is this rabbit doing in my
plot and it\'s literally sitting like
00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
under my tomato plants or whatever. It\'s
really right in the vegetables there
00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
and oh he\'s just sleeping. People were getting
kind of irritated at that little rabbit.
00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
It was a nice little rabbit but she used
to bring him over then just put him down
00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
and he would hop around
and sniffing the gardens
00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
and everything but I never did see him eating anything out
of anybody\'s garden. I don\'t know if he did or not but.
00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
So I was pretty insistent upon her
00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
taking the rabbit out of my plot.
00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
I had to really make sure that he didn\'t jump into people\'s
plots. So now I just keep him in the central area.
00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
He has a little run that he normally does
00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
you know and he has a certain favorite places where
he knows and he seems to just jump into those places
00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
and they\'re caught totally okay.
00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
Neighborhood now will
00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
adopt garden as their
own place of meeting to
00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
root this place in the daily
life of the neighborhood
00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
and the other thing that
I wanted to talk about
00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
which is it was really difficult
00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
Joan so came down with breast cancer (inaudible)
metastasized gee it\'s a single parent of
00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
a three year old very precious
people to be worried about.
00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
This is also part of making
friends these people
00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
and you start to care about each other.
00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:53.000
[music]
00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
Joan has been an incredible part of the garden.
She was right there building it with us
00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
and doing so much hard labor. Her
daughter Amy has been such a joy
00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
to see at the garden and it\'s just
been so much fun to see her grow up
00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
at the garden.
00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
[music]
00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
(inaudible) is really helpful
and supportive of me
00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
right now and she helped me
this morning do some planting
00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
and so it\'s been an opportunity
for people to meet each other
00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
on many different levels. (inaudible)
00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
[music]
00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
A few months ago I had a
healing circle in the garden
00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
and it was for myself and
a group of my friends
00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
and the garden just struck me as being
a perfect… perfect place to do that.
00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
The garden really has been
really important for me
00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
and I\'m just being able to I mean
I don\'t work so hard there now
00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
but I really enjoy the piece of
it and I feel like in a way like
00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
I gave to the garden and the
garden is giving to me now.
00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
We continue to support her and
we\'re also really really glad that
00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
we have the beauty at the garden that
she can enjoy in her time of trial
00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
and you know that each of us
will have our time of trial
00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
in this place for all of us.
00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
[music]
00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
[sil.]
00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
There\'s an artist (inaudible) she\'s
doing a sculpture of me and Amy.
00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
It\'s going to be a bronze sculpture for
the garden that\'s kind of a weird thing
00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
for me to have a sculpture done of me
especially you know especially for the garden
00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
it kind of felt very strange
especially being it having cancer
00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
and it felt like oh this is too
weird but I love sculpture so much.
00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
We talked a lot about it and so we said
okay let\'s let\'s go ahead and do it.
00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
Karl asked me to do this commissioned.
00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
He wanted to do Joan and Amy.
He mentioned to me that
00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
Joan was quite ill and for me
to show triumph over adversity
00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.999
is a big part of who I
want to be as an artist
00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.999
and Joan certainly exemplifies this.
She\'s not only a survivor of
00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
her illness she said
prevail er and so is Amy.
00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
(inaudible)
00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
And one day Joan said to
me that Amy said to her
00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
mommy I\'ve always been in your heart mommy
00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
and she said yes Amy, you\'ve
always been in my heart.
00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
So I thought that\'s what I would title it
00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
Joan and Carl were going to come
00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
and view the piece in its finished state.
00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:33.000
(inaudible)
00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
And then to see Carl and Joan the love
00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
they have for each other, the
respect and the love. (inaudible)
00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
so difficult Twitter at the moment for me.
00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
Kind of get you in that
00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:23.000
(inaudible).
00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:53.000
[music]
00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.999
People have an opportunity
to get to know each other
00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.999
this is the basis for community. That
way I\'m tempted to live my daily life
00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
took a joy and possibility and things
that inspiring but underneath it all
00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
there\'s a lot of pain. The latter
pain I was inspired by so many
00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
wonderful ideas and Utopian
notion and they had fallen apart
00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
so many have fallen apart. (inaudible)
00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.999
dedicate this garden to peacemaking garden.
Welcome all the groups
00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.999
that (inaudible).
00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:48.000
(inaudible).
00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.999
Oh God you have called us to to
peace for your peace itself. Amen.
00:49:55.000 --> 00:50:03.000
[music]
00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:14.999
We planted the peace pole last year
00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:19.999
on which peace was justice.
What\'s carved in four langauges,
00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.999
Arabic, Hebrew, German and English.
In planting the peace pole
00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:29.999
we dedicated this provide
a community garden
00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:34.999
as a provider peace garden. I just
want to welcome everybody here today
00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
we\'re so proud that you could be here with
us today and to share our garden with you
00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.999
and we hope that you\'ll come back here time and again.
This community garden has been offered by Karl Linn
00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:49.999
and the garden community as an
opportunity to let nature\'s joy,
00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:54.999
beauty, serenity, and love sprout
once again in our heavy hearts.
00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.999
Without such a garden within us we all
become helpless and powerless victims.
00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
I really want to add to that the belief
00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:09.999
and the possibility that when our
hearts open together like this
00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:14.999
that it actually affects our peoples.
I\'m glad that\'s people could make it
00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:19.999
and I think that this garden was made
00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:24.999
and it was good thing that it was
made because peace is a great thing.
00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:33.000
[music]
00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:54.999
[sil.]
00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:59.999
[music]
00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:04.999
I really, really am particularly attracted to the pond
area but I don\'t know where it will be and it really
00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:09.999
I don\'t know how much of a
difference it makes to me.
00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:14.999
I remember literally
00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:19.999
swinging the Maddox and digging up that
dirt very, very hard dirt over there
00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:24.999
and planting the first plants in the pond and now
looking at how absolutely beautiful that pond
00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:29.999
and the fountain is and I really like water
so I\'d kind of like it to be over there
00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:34.999
but I have no idea and it really
wherever it goes it\'ll be fine.
00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:43.000
[music]
00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:04.999
You know people always want to
know what\'s going to happen
00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:09.999
in the future and I\'m no help
on that because I\'m no prophet.
00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:14.999
You know most other people aren\'t any
help either because other people
00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:19.999
aren\'t prophets either. I don\'t
know why we\'re so hung up on so,
00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:24.999
what\'s going to happen, how\'s it going to be, whether
cities going to be like in another hundred years, etc.
00:53:25.000 --> 00:53:29.999
I think that\'s nonsense. We ought to
look and see what\'s happening now.
00:53:30.000 --> 00:53:34.999
People don\'t pay attention to
what\'s happening right now
00:53:35.000 --> 00:53:39.999
and seeing as far as possible that it\'s happening
well but it\'s going in the right direction
00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:44.999
because the only way I
can be a prophet at all
00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:49.999
is to tell you that if you go in the
wrong direction that\'s going to be bad.
00:53:50.000 --> 00:53:54.999
The value of real community is
created when we open ourselves up
00:53:55.000 --> 00:53:59.999
to the people that we live with, make common cause
with them in making this place a decent place to live
00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:04.999
and there are heroes coast-to-coast
00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:09.999
who are responding to that call that call
to open themselves up to their neighbors.
00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:14.999
[music]
00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:19.999
Well I haven\'t given up on Karl. I treated
him like I would any of my other neighbors.
00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:24.999
So there it is and here I am worst
people side by side in Berkeley
00:54:25.000 --> 00:54:29.999
and (inaudible) okay.
00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:34.999
We really never know what will happen
with the future and I concluded
00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:39.999
how important this for me not
to be a pessimist or optimist
00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:44.999
but a possibility to get
possibilities of working with people
00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:49.999
creating life supportive, life
affirmative small projects
00:54:50.000 --> 00:54:54.999
that could be inspiring and
enrich people\'s lives.
00:54:55.000 --> 00:54:59.999
It gives me this incredible boost of hope
00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:04.999
I mean even to the point of feeling like
maybe world peace is possible to transform
00:55:05.000 --> 00:55:09.999
this useless unused piece of
property into now it\'s a place
00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:14.999
that\'s thriving with neighbors, growing their
food getting together and it might seem
00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:19.999
small at first but it\'s not at all small.
00:55:20.000 --> 00:55:24.999
It grows. There is nothing
small about that garden.
00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:33.000
[music]
00:55:50.000 --> 00:55:54.999
To learn more about community gardens in
your area and across North America visit
00:55:55.000 --> 00:56:00.000
the American Community Gardening Association
website at communitygarden.org.