Hello!
Today, it feels weird not to write about the elephant in the room. I know we all feel a tennis-ball-sized lump in our stomachs as we wait for the results. But as with anything, just remember you have a community to lean on for support. And if you can’t think of anyone, my inbox (CommWorks24@gmail.com) can serve as a void to yell your anxieties into.
With all that said, I want to shift focus a bit.
The past few pieces have been about the community gardens. I personally think it’s a great and noble project, and I will never apologize for that because, just like you reading this, I am an important part of this community and my ideas matter. But now I want to start inviting the rest of the community in to hear what you think about this particular effort.
This week, I’m leaning more into my favorite part of journalism, interviewing people.
These projects can have all the good intentions in the world, but unless we’re tracking the impact, the net good, and trying to bridge that gap, these projects will ultimately fail.
It was nice to hear two different perspectives about what these gardens are providing Alamogordo.
For Larissa Lasher, the biggest draw to get involved with the community gardens was the decreasing quality of food she saw at the grocery stores. “Sometimes store-bought can taste awful.”
Lasher used to have a home garden years ago, but hasn’t been able to get one to take this year, so the community gardens have been especially helpful in allowing her to continue to control the quality of the food she consumes.
“Even if I don’t find anything to harvest, just being there fills my soul,” she said.
Both of these factors have inspired Lasher to start a community garden when she moves back home. Good begets good, and that’s definitely a noble reason to support the work With Many Hands is doing.
For Desiree Telab, her reasons for getting and staying involved are similar, but a bit more far-reaching.
Telab and her military family first moved to Alamogordo in October of 2023, but she had heard about the efforts of With Many Hands for a community garden prior to that.
“(Courtney McCary’s) love for the community, and her drive just makes you want to be a part of it,” Telab said. And it’s a good thing McCary’s energy drew her in, because it has led to so much more.
Telab usually tries to get out to the gardens once a week when life permits, but it has begun to take on importance beyond just harvesting fresh produce for the culinary artist to cook for her family. It is inspiring her children.
“I love seeing the look on my daughters faces when they find a huge vegetable, or plant they can’t identify. Then we look it up. Or want to plant it at the house. Each garden has different treasures, and finding them is just opening a world of love for nature,” Telab imparted.
I personally think one of our biggest successes is to share knowledge with each other, but especially to make sure our knowledge, wisdom, and good deeds outlive us. I think that is exactly what is happening here.
Thursday will be more of how the Alamogordo community gardens are impacting the community.
Over the next few days, and the next few years really, please have sympathy for each other, no matter the outcome, and,
Salud.
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