Crystal Perkins

 

In a small, nothing town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan’s wilderness, lies a large garden that brightens the dingy streets while opening not only it’s cedar gates to the community, but several doors to various successes. It’s a place where children can grow up with a sense of purpose and a mouthful of raspberries while an impoverished mother can work off some of her daily stress in the flower beds while her children harvest dinner for the evening. I designed experiments and ran classes as I expected, but I also learned life lesson after life lesson as we helped people realize potential and taught community members to produce and process their own food and household products. It wasn’t just about putting me in a leadership position or harvesting vegetables for farmers markets; it was about opening our arms, fields, and kitchens to embrace a crumbling community and warm them to the idea of building a stronger locality and more healthy lifestyle. If we can instill these morals in the children of broken towns and broken families, lives that may have seemed dull and boring can become purposeful and worthwhile.