Tim Carpenter, CEO of EngAGE, shares his thoughts about his latest favorite thing.
As long as you live, keep learning how to live.
― Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Gardens, Gangstas, Profanity and Learning
by Tim Carpenter
EngAGE has been doing programs in lifelong learning for 22 years now. And I turned 60 this year. These two facts coincide and amaze me. This past year+ has been filled with lessons and challenges for us all. When the pandemic hit last year, I, like many people, turned to learning something new to feel better about myself, about my place in this suddenly lonely and isolated world. I turned to… gardening. Not a miraculous or particularly unique idea, but it was for me. I don’t and have not ever grown things.
My friend and EngAGE board member Greg Berkoff gave me a subscription to Master Class, which seemed like such a cool idea. I watched some, they were cool, but nothing really stuck as a true learning moment. Nothing until I watched the Ron Finley one on urban gardens – he calls himself the “gangsta gardener.” And he swears. A lot. Drops the F-bomb about food. I liked him immediately. And he very pragmatically spoke to me about how easy it was to grow delicious food – in pots, anywhere. I was in.
I went to the garden store and bought two types of tomatoes and basil, some used pots, some soil, a great little shovel, some other necessities. I planted them in my backyard (the soil was awful, so I went with pots). I planted all of it, began a careful watering, tending and trimming regimen, and then came the hard part. Waiting. I deep down knew I was waiting for them to die and I would just go back to reading novels in my spare time. But they didn’t die. They produced delicious food. I made summer angel hair pasta with sun gold tomatoes and basil. I made caprese salads. It was the best thing, eating this amazingly delicious fresh food that I grew. For Christmas, my daughter Zoe bought me a great garden-to-cooking book on planting everything. So, this year I expanded my garden to tomatoes, basil, cucumbers and zucchini, more plants, more varieties. I was especially excited and nervous about Persian cucumbers. I love them but wasn’t sure if my green thumb would stay green for these. I just had the biggest harvest I’ve ever had (see the photo) and the food is the most amazing tasting thing ever, to me. I love tending the plants, moving them around to make sure sun and shade are optimal, feeding them, trimming, caring for them – loving them. Every day.
I am a gardener.
So, 22 years of programming lifelong learning and wellness programs for people in affordable housing and I turned 60 during the ongoing pandemic, that’s where this story started. The extended period of isolation, the loneliness, the loss, the need for connection and purpose – this is what we hopefully learned about during this past year and change. So, I am practicing what I, what we, preach at EngAGE. I am learning something new that produces something healthy in and for me and mine. It makes me feel happy and grounded, literally, my hands in the earth. I highly recommend picking something up, doing something creative, learning something new, continuing to grow and have a life with a sense of purpose. Weirdly, it works.
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived – that is to have succeeded.
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
