Three Twenty-Something Angels at the Community Garden Park
“Can we help?” asked one of the three young adults walking by the Community Garden Park in South Laguna. It was hot and sunny in the late afternoon in August and they saw me shoveling and spreading mulch on the garden pathways. They also saw me struggling (OK, groaning) with a wheelbarrow piled high with the darkened ground covering. Was this really happening? I thought to myself. The two young men and a young woman followed up with a second offer to help. Then I knew I was not imagining or delirious from the heat. Catching my breath, I invited them into the garden on South Coast Highway.
After expressing my sheer delight, I asked their names. Kaitlin Zebrowski, Sebastian Paniagua, and Quiotee Sanders, they replied smilingly. Two of them live in or near downtown Laguna, another is from Corona del Mar.
In response to my question about their ages, I learned they were all in their twenties. So at 79, they were young enough to be my grandchildren. Kaitlin is finishing a degree in nutrition at Arizona State University. She’s a vegetarian drawn to organic gardening and wielded a shovel as robustly as her two strong male companions. I mentioned to her my admiration for Berkeley restauranter/organic gardening advocate Alice Waters and Kaitlin’s interest peaked.
Sebastian, I discovered, installs solar panels for a living. “Sea-Bass,” his friends called him, is not a vegetarian. We talked about how the rooftops of schools and other public buildings in Laguna Beach and other Orange County cities could and should be covered with these clean electricity-generating panels. I mentioned that Laguna’s Top of the World Elementary School has for decades been utilizing solar panels to supply some of its electricity needs.
I didn’t have as much of an opportunity to talk with Quiotee, except to learn that his unusual first name was given him by his hippy parents and he’s a vegetarian. Remember readers, my wife (Ginger) and I were there to spread mulch along with our long-time fellow tillers, Barbara Granger and Sally Coffey. Reflecting back on this scene, I regret that I didn’t learn more about these three young people—angels—who so readily jumped in to help out.
What came of this unsolicited help? Plenty. The entire lower tier of the garden was mulched and looking refreshed. In doing that, we used up completely a large pile of the stuff, leaving only the upper tier for another day and other hands.
Getting back to our three unexpected young helpers, when we finished mulching the lower tier, my wife and I led them to our garden box on the upper tier. They admired our bountiful crop of plump, red, juicy tomatoes and were given some to take home. We told them about the Garden Park’s band and upcoming festivals and, after getting contact information, invited them to come to the Garden’s many free public events, which include instruction on growing organic vegetables.
These young people made my day. With unexpected and much needed help from Kaitlin, Sebastian, and Quiotee, Laguna Beach’s only Community Garden Park is looking great and doing its job of sequestering carbon, cleaning the air, growing organics, and providing solace from the din of our lives. Quiotee said: “It provides escape from the chaos and noise of Laguna traffic.” Kaitlin added: “The Community Garden gives people a chance to see what organic growing really means.”
Tom is an historian writing an account of California’s environmental leadership nationally and globally. He and his wife are activists with the Laguna chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby. Email: [email protected]
