What We Bring to the Table
Welcome to This Week's Edition
Hello everyone,
June is here, and you can feel the season starting to shift — the garden's settling into its summer rhythm, and so are we. This is one of those weeks where things begin winding toward a natural pause. Our potluck is just two weeks away, a week off follows close behind, and we've got a couple of good classes between now and then.
One quick note before we dig in: there's no livestream this week — no Monday Garden Hangout. We'll pick that back up soon. For now, I'll see you in class.
Here's what's ahead.
For Students
Regenerative Gardening
This week we land on the last of the eight principles — Principle #8: "Ask what you can give, rather than what you can take."
We'll open with a group discussion, and I'd love for you to come ready to think out loud with me:
In real, physical terms, what are some things we can give to the garden to help it stay healthy over time?
How does starting with "What can I give?" change the way we think about the garden, compared to starting with "What can I get?"
From there we'll turn to indigenous wisdom and the garden — listening to indigenous voices and learning from the lessons of the past and the present. It's a fitting place to bring the principles home.
We're also checking in on your garden in June — what needs your attention as the heat sets in.
Fundamentals of Sustainability
I'm going to try something a little new with our lecture this week. I won't say too much yet — I'd rather just show you. Come curious, and come ready to participate. I think it'll be a good one.
Teaching Updates
A "New" Summer Class: Local Food Communities
You may have heard that I'm teaching a new summer class called Local Food Communities — and I want to clear up some confusion right away, because the name has thrown a few people.
Here's the short version: this is still your gardening class. Same locations, same days, same times — nothing about the schedule changes. If you've been coming to class, just keep coming exactly like you have been. The only real difference is a slightly stronger focus on food and the food community we all live in. (Honestly, the name has caused enough confusion that I'm considering changing it — so please don't read too much into it.)
We'll still be doing what we always do as regenerative gardeners. The course is built around a handful of clear goals: describing what it actually means to be a regenerative gardener, understanding food deserts and how they connect to food justice, comparing home gardening with community gardening, learning the origins and goals of the Slow Food movement, getting to know the local farms, markets, and organizations working on food security, and finding real ways to become more active members of our community. We'll also spend time comparing regenerative, sustainable, and organic gardening — and where they overlap.
Here's how the six weeks lay out:
Week 1 — Introduction: Meet your classmates, walk through the schedule, talk about the local food challenges we want to tackle, and decide on a theme for our end-of-course potluck.
Week 2 — Your Garden in July + Community Gardens: What your garden needs midsummer, plus an introduction to local community gardens — how they work, the ethics of shared spaces, and how to get one started.
Week 3 — Field Trip to Local Farmer's Markets: We'll visit farmer's markets to learn about sourcing local food. We'll meet at designated market locations based on sign-ups, and a few options may fall on a weekend.
Week 4 — Local Food and Health: Slow food, food deserts, and food justice, plus a look at local school and community gardens.
Week 5 — Regenerative Gardening Principles: A deep dive into the eight principles, how they show up in gardening traditions around the world, and a discussion on how you've put them to work in your own garden and life.
Week 6 — Summer Potluck: We celebrate the end of the course by sharing dishes that reflect our chosen theme, with some final reflections together.
The class is scheduled as six weeks for now. There's a chance Mt. SAC adds a few more sessions with substitute instructors after that, but nothing's confirmed yet — I'll keep you posted as I learn more.
Our Potluck Is Coming — Week of June 8–12
Our potluck is just two weeks out, and I can't wait. If you'd like to help plan, please come to class this week — I'll have a potluck planning sheet there (it won't be online). If you miss this week, no worries at all: just bring whatever makes sense to you.
A few asks to keep things sustainable and low-waste:
Please bring reusable plates and utensils.
Please bring your own water bottle — reusable if you've got one.
And of course, we'll hold our plant raffle, like we do every spring and fall. If you're new to this: feel free to bring in any plants, pots, books, or garden-related odds and ends you'd like to share. We'll have raffle tickets and raffle everything off after we eat. I'll have all the details in class this week. It's always a good time — please don't miss it.
A Week Off — June 15–19
After the potluck, we've got a week off: no classes June 15–19. Use it well — rest, get your hands in the soil just for the joy of it, sit in the shade. Classes start back up the week of June 22.
Videos from This Week's Classes
Regenerative Gardening
Slow Food & Terra Madre
Food, the Gut & the Brain
Your Gut Microbiome: The Most Important Organ You've Never Heard Of — Erika Ebbel Angle | TEDxFargo
Why Live-Culture Fermented Foods Are Good for Your Gut — Kathryn Lukas | TEDxUniversityofNevada
In the Kitchen
Thought of the Week: What We Bring to the Table
It's no accident that we land on Principle #8 — ask what you can give, rather than what you can take — in the same stretch of weeks that we start planning a potluck.
A potluck is that principle made edible. Nobody shows up asking what they can get from the table. Everyone shows up asking what they can bring to it. And somehow, when a room full of people each bring one small thing, the table ends up overflowing — more than any one of us could have made alone, and more than any of us would have thought to ask for.
The garden works the same way. We spend a lot of time talking about what a garden can give us — food, beauty, a place to put our hands. But the gardens I love most belong to people who flipped the question. They asked what they could give: a little compost, some patience, a home for something smaller than themselves. And the garden gave it all back, with interest.
The botanist and writer Robin Wall Kimmerer puts it in four words: "All flourishing is mutual." You can't really thrive in a garden, or a community, by taking alone. The giving and the getting turn out to be the same motion.
So as we head toward the potluck — and into a little rest afterward — I hope you'll carry that question with you. Not just "what can this give me," but "what can I give it." Your garden, your table, your neighbors. I have a feeling you already know the answer.
See you in class.
