The Power Of Gardening

**Parental Discretion Advised**

This TED talk was so inspiring to me, and Mr. Finley is a true role model for his community and for myself. My Knowledge of gardening isn't quite on the same level as Mr. Finley's, but I like to believe that I'm taking small steps to teaching the next generation about gardening,nutrition,cooking,seed saving,composting, hard work,and sharing through my children. All five of my kids have worked in the garden and I must admit my two daughters, Kennedy (17) and Jordan(11) really love it! My son, Myles (9) is kind of on the fence about gardening, sometimes he loves it and other times it doesn't want to be bothered with it,but he really enjoys building and turning the compost pile. The other two children, Rico Jr, (14) and Brooklyn (13) aren't really into planting and getting the beds ready, but they don't mind picking the fruits and veggies, so I guess I have my own assembly line of workers for the garden. 

Having our own garden for six years now has really caught on in the neighborhood. Three years ago my next door neighbor decided to grow some tomatoes in some pots in her backyard, and then the lady two houses down from her decided to start a small garden. The next thing I know, I'm giving my next door neighbor seeds that I'd saved from the previous season and I find myself  immersed in conversations with neighbors and even neighborhood kids who want to plant things.I would tell them what I know and what has worked for me over the years, and I would even recommend some of my favorite gardening books, blogs and podcast to many of my adult neighbors. With the neighborhood children they were always welcomed to come and help sow seeds, help transplant plants into the garden, pull weeds, or any other gardening tasks that needed to get done.

As I watched this TED Talk I felt compelled to run out and start this large community garden because I wanted to make a difference in my community. However, as I write this blog post I realize that I've already made an incredible difference in my community,even if it's just my street.This doesn't mean that I won't try community gardening on a large scale in the future, but right now I'm proud of the contribution that I've made to my community with gardening. Who knew a tiny backyard garden could inspire neighborhood children and adults to start growing their own food?

Now I hope this video and post inspires you to get out into your community and share whatever knowledge it is you have. I hope it infuses the urge to volunteer in your community, albeit,community garden, food bank, scouts or whatever!

If you want to know more about Mr. Finley and what he's doing in South Central go to www.ronfinley.com .