AC Anecdotes: Finding Common Ground in Gardening

By Madeline Knapp

It doesn’t take long for strangers to start opening up when their hands are in the dirt. At least, that’s what Jenifer Azulay of Friends of the Gardens at Lake Merritt has noticed during her four years working with volunteers through a growing partnership with A Curiae. What starts as a day spent planting, weeding and caring for a public garden can easily become a space for conversations people may not have anywhere else.

Jenifer’s relationship with the Gardens started as a volunteer. During a field trip for a class at Merritt College, she was introduced to community land stewardship and the idea that community members could come together to care for a public space. She continued volunteering after the class, often bringing her son with her, until she was eventually asked to become the volunteer coordinator.

“I hold a deep reverence and belief in the power of public garden spaces, places that are free to the public where people are invited to come in and just connect with nature…and have an impact on,” Jenifer said.

Jenifer now works with volunteers ranging from about two to 85 years old. She enjoys seeing people return to the Gardens with friends and family and they often point out plants they planted or areas they helped maintain. “The main thing that I hope that people get from [volunteering is to] enjoy [and] witness the connection people get,” she said.

Jenifer has found that working together in the Gardens also creates a different environment for people to get to know each other. When she first started her job, she was surprised by how quickly strangers began opening up while working together. “I find that the quality of conversation and the depth people go to in a conversation is drastically increased when they’re working together in the dirt,” Jenifer said. “I think it has something to do with the healing quality of actually getting your hands in the soil. But also we're sort of focused on this other thing, we're not feeling as self-conscious as you would if you were sitting across a table from somebody,” she said.

Jenifer has been able to see these connections develop during A Curiae’s volunteer days at the Gardens. A Curiae brings together clients and staff working within the criminal justice system, including lawyers and judges, to spend a few hours connecting with each other and the community. The volunteer days give people who may have met through very different circumstances an opportunity to interact outside of those roles. 

During a recent volunteer day, Jenifer overheard one participant talking about their frustration after being denied a certain level of clearance. Another person in the group, a judge, then revealed that they were actually the person who had denied it. The two were sitting and working together as they talked through the decision. Jenifer said there was some tension at first, but the conversation gave both people an opportunity to explain their perspectives. “So I saw something that was maybe becoming like a hard part for that one individual…becoming a stone in their story that they might have to carry around,” Jenifer said.

“Instead, they were just allowed to release that in this really beautiful way…these people who sort of automatically dehumanize each other within the context of the system [were] allowed to interact with each other on that hyper-personal plane.” she explained. 

Jenifer has also seen these connections in smaller interactions. Her son often comes to the Gardens with her, where she considers him her unofficial “intern.” During A Curiae volunteer days, she noticed participants welcoming him into their conversations with fist bumps and “hey man’s.” She sees a lot of beauty in the way they make an effort to include him, especially compared to other volunteer groups that may barely acknowledge he is there.

Jenifer’s approach to volunteerism is centered around making people feel comfortable enough to take care of themselves. She does not believe a successful volunteer day means working nonstop until every task is finished. “We're all sort of enmeshed in capitalism right now and there's this idea that we're supposed to work until we drop.” she said.

Instead, Jenifer encourages volunteers to take breaks when they need them, talk to the people around them and pay attention to how they are feeling. “I always tell people… if all you do for the rest of the day is sit and chat with the person next to you, that's still a beautiful energy that you're giving to the space,” she said.

“The more we allow ourselves to take that break, to take that breath, and deeply care for ourselves, we're creating a community. We’re creating a culture where that becomes the norm,” she explained.

Ultimately, Jenifer hopes people leave the Gardens feeling like they were welcomed into the space, even if they entered without knowing what they were doing. “I hope that [volunteers] feel a sense of belonging. I hope that they feel a sense of peace around trying new things,” Jenifer said. For Jenifer, the work volunteers accomplish matters, but the people doing that work matter just as much.