A Garden Grows in
California’s Bay Area
WITH SOME HELP, AND SEED MONEY–LITERALLY–FROM THE COMMUNITY,
A GARDEN GROWS IN CALIFORNIA’S BAY AREA.
It’s nothing extraordinary, really, just a few beds of daisies
and sunflowers, groves of pumpkins and tomatoes, and rows
of snow peas, kale, carrots onions, mint, rosemary, thyme
and basil to brighten the landscape, like buckets of Kool-
Aid rain, poured from the sky.
The magic, though, is not in the garden but in its
gardeners, virtually all of them wheelchair users: the
vision-impaired boy with his entire face buried deep inside
a cinnamon-color sunflower, taking in the splendor of its
smell and texture; a boy with Down’s, giddily raking the
soil for the very first time; the girl taking that first bite
from a tomato she’d helped grow, and every one of the
kids–every single one–absolutely loves shucking corn.
Patricia Ogura, a special education teacher at the combined
high-school and middle school in the hamlet of Hercules,
about 10 miles northeast of Berkeley, California, speculates
that its the rhythmic motion of the shucking, the texture
of the corn stalks, and the ripping sound, which all
combine to stimulate the kids’ senses and imagination.
“Oh, I remember the very happy girl playing in the
planter bed, just running her fingers through the soil, and
another student smiling and so happy, holding onto a small
bouquet of flowers. When I saw that, and other photos
captured by their teacher Mrs. Ogura…I just started
crying ”, said Maddie Yuen, the former president of the
Parent-Teacher Organization, whose daughter is a graduate
of the high school.
The Hercules Sensory Garden is testament to how the
five senses most of us take for granted–to see, to hear,
to smell, to taste, and to touch–can help us develop, to
grow, as human beings. And just as importantly, it shines
a spotlight on all that is possible when even the tiniest
community makes up its mind, bands together and creates.
Said Ogura: “I know it’s just a garden but when you
look at how much the kids get from it and you look at
the effort the entire community put into it, the Sensory
Garden is really nothing short of a miracle.”
The story begins with Ogura, who was staring at a
parcel of school property that was choked by weeds one
day early in 2017 and wondering what she could do to
58 MARKETPLACECONTRACOSTA.COM AUGUST 2018