Gardening…Good for the Soul, Good for the Community - with Olivewood Gardens

Hello readers!

We’re back with another great conversation that sheds light on some of the great work going on in our local nonprofit sphere. In this post, I share my discussion with Jen Nation, the Executive Director at Olivewood Gardens & Learning Center in National City. Olivewood Gardens is doing an amazing job of creating and strengthening the community while empowering people to learn about nutrition, cooking, growing their own food, and so much more. I invite you to listen in as I am yet again inspired by the great things that can happen when people take the time to invest in others and take action toward changing the world, one day at a time.

Thanks a lot for being willing to talk to me for the blog. If you could start out by telling us what Olivewood Gardens is all about, we’d love to hear what you have to say!

I would love to. I’ll give you a little bit of history to start out. First of all, Olivewood Gardens currently…does nutrition and environmental education programs for youth, adults, families. We’re located in National City on eight acres, and we also have a historic Queen Anne Victorian home. The home was built in 1896 by a man named Oliver Noyes, and he and his family lived here for almost 14 years, and then another family lived here for about 40 years, and then in the ‘80’s, the Walton family purchased the home. And when their son Lukas was around three, three and a half years old, he got diagnosed with kidney cancer. And they tried all the traditional treatments and nothing was really working, and one thing they kept hearing over and over was for him to change his diet. So, Christy Walton started growing a garden. She put in a 1/4 acre plot and started growing food and juicing food for their son. Within a few months, Lukas’s cancer had stopped spreading and he went into remission. And that’s where that connection with health and food [and] food as medicine became part of the history of this property. When Christy was ready to sell the house, instead of selling it, she donated it to International Community Foundation. The main thing that ICF wanted to do was to make sure that the property was used for community benefit, and so they formed Olivewood, and this will be our tenth year running programs. It took a couple years to go through all the permitting process and all that fun stuff with the city, but I think one of the things they did really well was listen to what the community was looking for.

What is the International Community Foundation?

The International Community Foundation is a nonprofit that does cross-border philanthropy. They work primarily in Baja California, Mexico, and South America, and they connect funders in the U.S. with projects in those communities. A lot of them are environmental projects. When the Walton family, Christy, donated the property in 2006, she donated it to the international Community Foundation. It’s an organization she was working with. So, when she did that, it was up to the International Community Foundation to do something with the property, and since they don’t do direct programs…they talked to the community to see what’s missing, what could we do with this. And the fact that it was already a really nice, really great garden that was already cultivated, and health and nutrition is so important in the community that we’re in -- that’s how Olivewood came to life.

What kinds of programs do you guys provide?

The first program that Olivewood ran was our children’s Field Trip Program. We run field trips for kids mostly kindergarten through 6th grade. Primarily, we serve 4th graders from the National City school district. They come out and it’s all hands-on…they do a garden, an environmental science, and a nutrition education rotation. So, when they’re out at Olivewood they go through this three-part rotation, tying what they’re learning in the garden to the kitchen, to the science. It’s a lot of hands-on STEM education with a nutrition component. The students from National City will come out three times throughout the year…all their programming is progression-based, so they build off what they learned the last time. They do planting, harvesting…and they learn about what it takes to grow the compost. It’s all really hands on and experiential. It’s a lot of fun.

And then, you also do workshops for the community?

Yes. [We have] three core programs. The first one is our children’s Field Trip; the second one is the Cooking for Salud Program. Cooking for Salud is an adult nutrition education and behavior modification program designed to teach adults how to make healthy changes at home that will improve their families’ short and long-term health outcomes. Cooking for Salud gives families tools to change their cooking and eating habits, as well as transform the way they view food and health. The program is eight weeks and starts with an introduction to basic nutrition. The program leads people to learn about flavors through spices and herbs, preparing and eating vegetables, cooking with whole grains and honoring their culture in their cooking. This program launched in 2013 and has since graduated 250 “Kitchenistas,” who then have the option to participate in a Kitchenistas Community Engagement  Program for further growth and development.  

So, is being a Kitchenista a certification of sorts?

What happened was [that] people were graduating from the program and they wanted to stay involved, and we were trying to figure out ways to be more out in the community to get more people connected to Olivewood. The Kitchenista program really grew around that idea. A secondary benefit of our program, aside from nutrition education, was [that] people were building community. They were finding that Olivewood was a place where they wanted to be involved, because they felt safe. They felt that they had a peer group that they could count on, for not only accountability with their health and wellness goals, but also just a place where [they] felt like they belonged and could share and talk about things that were happening in their lives. So, we’ve really tried to keep that part of it…it is a community, and you’re part of this community of Kitchenistas, and we’re going to help ensure that you have the resources and tools if you want to continue any sort of education.

It’s so amazing. That’s another reason I love Olivewood, that sense of how connected people are. They talk about health and wellness, but it’s so much more than just nutrition; it’s mental health, and physical health, and emotional health, and spiritual health, and people are sharing. So many people have these amazing talents, or skills, or education that they’ve had that they’re bringing to the group. It’s just this cool group of people that are learning from each other and bettering their lives, and I can’t think of anything better than that.

We have a volunteer program…anybody can volunteer at Olivewood. We have a great volunteer coordinator and a great process to onboard people, whether they want to work in the garden, or in the kitchen, or in the office -- there’s lots of opportunities.

And then, we have an intern program. We have dietitians who come and intern, we have students in marketing who intern in college, and then we do these two high school internship programs. One is called Sustainable Urban Agriculture, and that program is 14 weeks and it runs in the fall and it’s for high school students from Sweetwater High School. Because it’s so hands-on, we take only 8 to 10 students at a time. The students from last semester, the project that they identified was to put a garden in at their high school. Not only did they put the garden in, they created a sustainability plan for once they graduate, so the garden will continue to grow. The students have done a fabulous job. Now that the program’s over, while they’re still in school, they’re still going back and making sure that the club that took on the garden has the tools and the resources that they need.

In the spring we do Garden to Kitchen, and the idea stemmed from our high school students who went through the urban ag program who wanted to see that connectedness between food and agriculture. That program is also 14 weeks… and half of the time they’re doing agriculture, the other half of the time they’re in the kitchen. Local chefs will come in and do the hands-on nutrition education, and some of our Kitchenistas will come in and do that as well. And the garden component is run by our Facilities and Garden Manager and our Environmental Educator, so they’re getting this cool mix of hands-on from both the garden and the nutrition side, and they’re also getting job skills and life skills development and leadership skills. This is our third year of the program, so we’re bringing in more life skills and job training components as well, so that when the students are done with the program, whether they go on to a part-time job or a full-time job, or are planning to head to college, they have these skills that will help set them up for success. We had 75 applicants this year for 24 spaces. Reading some of their responses on why they wanted to be in program was so powerful…students making that connection of, “These are skills that I can take with me forever, it’s not just a class I’m taking, but it’s this internship. I can put it on my resumé. I’m learning all these skills that I can have with me. I’m going to need to cook when I graduate from high school or college, and I’m going to need to learn how to talk with other people and connect with people outside my friend group.” A lot of the connections they were making, we see as outcomes. But the fact that they applied and they already saw that this was a reason they wanted to do the program was pretty cool.

We’re really trying to figure out those students that didn’t quite make it in[to] the program this spring, how we can keep them engaged [with] Olivewood. They can always come volunteer, and many of them will, but, what else can we do in the meantime? We’re trying to do more public speaking training and financial literacy training and things that any student should be able to come to. So, even if you’re not in the program, you should be able to come to those workshops to get this extra education. I’m hoping that a lot of the students will take us up on that, and I think they will, just based on some of their responses and some of their interviews.

We do have a lot of classes for the community. Our core programs primarily serve National City or south-based San Diego, and we do have people and schools from other parts of the county that come to our programs as well. All of our programs, the ones that I mentioned, are all free to the participants. Our children’s field trip program is on a sliding scale…so some of our schools do pay to come to Olivewood and do the field trip, and the rest of it is subsidized from our very generous donors and grants and foundations support.

We also do classes — these fun, educational programs, both for garden education and for nutrition education, that are open for the community. We have gardening classes one Saturday a month, and our Garden Facilities Manager is fabulous. He’s been in the field for over 30 years and knows, I swear, everything in the world. He’s such a great teacher and has so much knowledge, and a lot of people come to these and have all these questions about what’s happening in their own gardens, and I think he really helps build people’s confidence. You don’t have to have Olivewood Gardens, you can do container plants, or you can do whatever works for you in your space. He does a really fabulous job of helping people see how to do that.

And then, we do these nutrition classes or cooking classes; really fun, hands-on classes. We also offer those once a month. Next month we’re doing a cooking class for people that’s all about how to use all the parts of the vegetable…it’s really to divert food waste, and teach people how they can cook at home. If you’re going to buy a beet, don’t just eat the beet -- you can cook the greens as well. When you get fresh-grown carrots from your own garden or from the store, and they have the carrot tops, here’s a few recipes you can make with those carrot tops. The idea is to help people see that they [can] reduce food waste, and that there’s a lot of delicious things you can do with that.

The last thing[s] that we do are called Garden Dinners at Dusk. We bring in a chef, and the chef makes a four-course meal; there [are] wine pairings, and you just enjoy a really nice dinner in the garden with this fabulous chef that cooks this great meal. And all of those programs really help us be able to do what we do. Those programs are very reasonably priced for their value. You get this great meal and you learn all these great things, and then the proceeds stay at Olivewood so we can continue to offer programs for the community for low or no cost.

We have these fabulous chefs who we work with who are really committed to our mission, and see the impact that we’re having on the community. To be able to offer these in our great location, but also to get people connected to what we’re doing… you’re coming and you’re having this great dinner, but you’re also learning about what we’re doing and who we’re serving, and why we’re doing what we’re doing.

So, with all that you guys do, how do you sum it all up? What’s your mission statement?

That is a great question. Our mission is to inspire kids and adults to be active citizens through organic gardening, environmental stewardship and nutrition education. Everything we do is hands-on. We want to see a healthier community at the end of the day. We want to see environmental stewards. Everything that we do is really tying what you can grow, what comes from the earth, how you can conserve the earth, all the way into what are you putting in your body, and why is it important to be putting fresh, healthy food into your body as opposed to tons of processed, sugary food.

I love your mission statement. I wholeheartedly love it.

Thanks.

How long have you worked there?

It’ll be two years in April.

What did you do before that?

For many years, almost 20 years, I worked at three different Girl Scout councils. I ran all of the programs. All of our adult programs, all the support to volunteers and troops. We had 13,000 adults and 30,000 kids, and I just made sure that all of them had something to do, whether it was training or programs or partnerships with the community.

So, you’ve been in the nonprofit sector for a long time. What has Olivewood, specifically, taught you, if anything?

I think the thing I love most about Olivewood, and the thing that drew me to Olivewood, was this connection to community. Olivewood is a smaller nonprofit that’s really rooted in the community that we’re serving. While we do serve throughout San Diego County, and we’re open and welcoming, we’re doing these deep programs that are in this specific community. Part of our values are to listen to our participants, so we’re moving at the pace of our community. We’re keeping our community engaged in what we’re doing. We’re using feedback from our participants in how we plan our programs and events. For me, I think the biggest lesson was just how critical that is to be successful. If we weren’t really listening to the folks that we’re serving, I don’t think we’d be as successful. We’re working with the school district, we’re working with the Chamber, we work with the city, and then, we work with the participants. We ask kids what they want to do, we talk to parents. Our Kitchenistas are advocating on the wellness committee for the school district, and they are going to city council meetings and talking about policy change for what’s growing in the city and what businesses are opening in terms of ensuring there’s room for businesses that want to talk about a healthier lifestyle. In general, when Olivewood was founded, the International Community Foundation talked to the community about what they wanted. We’re going to be successful if we keep being part of the community and listening to the community and honoring what they want to do.

Do you have any insider tips regarding how to find the most appropriate way for a person to give back to their community as an individual, or, any encouragement for someone who may be trying to start a nonprofit?

The great thing about volunteering and being in the community is [that] you can try to volunteer and get connected with different things that maybe you don’t know you’re passionate about yet, but you have a curiosity about. We have a lot of people that volunteer for Olivewood because they want to learn to garden, but now they learned that they also like nutrition or cooking. So, I think for anybody who is like, “how can I get connected or what should I do?” Just try a bunch of different things and connect with different organizations.

And I think that anybody who’s interested in starting a nonprofit, first see what else is out there. There’s a lot of nonprofits in San Diego, and so there’s maybe somebody already doing what you’re thinking about doing. If not, really know what your secret sauce is. What’s your value proposition? What’s the thing that your nonprofit’s going to do that’s very unique, [unlike] anybody else’s? At the end of the day, everything is about relationships. I just tell everybody, no matter who you are – if you’re trying to volunteer, if you’re trying to run a nonprofit, if you’re just trying to learn more information – just get involved and network, and follow up on people that you meet. San Diego is a really small town, and relationships drive success. The more people you know, the more people that know what you’re trying to do or what you’re interested in – people are great about connecting you to things that they think you might interested in or want to do more of. Those relationships are critical and key and so important.

What do you think is the function of a nonprofit in our society today?

I think nonprofits fill a gap that the private sector and the government aren’t necessarily filling. Whether that’s helping people learn a new skill, or connecting resources, or providing a certain service that maybe you’re not able to find through a corporation or through the government – I think the nonprofit sector is called the third sector, but I think it’s the first sector. It brings people together and it connects people to resources that maybe they’re not able to find otherwise. I don’t think the world would work as it does, or especially, the United States, as it does without nonprofits being able to fill in the gaps. People are really good about seeing where there is a gap, and jumping in and making sure that people have the tools they need.

In your opinion, what does it mean to be a visionary?

Being able to think about what’s possible. There’s a lot of big ideas… if you’re a visionary, you’re really thinking about a way to see something in a new light, or to see what’s possible that maybe isn’t being done currently, and help find the people that can help backfill and get you to that long-term goal.

How can people get involved with, or support, Olivewood Gardens?

We love volunteers. We couldn’t do what we do without volunteers, and like I said earlier, we have a role for everybody, no matter what you want to do. We’re always looking for people to help in our garden, with our composting, in our kitchen with our kids field trip program…we literally have something for everybody. Our website is www.olivewoodgardens.org, and we have a “Get Involved” section; and then if you’re like, “Hey I’ve got some extra money and I’d like to donate it,” we’re really good stewards of donations. I think like a lot of nonprofits, we have a phenomenal staff and we function really well because of our volunteers and the amount of time that they’re willing to give and the skillsets they’re willing to bring, so, we love volunteers.

Well, readers, there you have it! If you love gardening or want to learn how to garden, if you love to cook, if you love working with kids…there’s a place for you at Olivewood Gardens. And always, there’s a place for you in your community to bring whatever magic only you can bring to help it thrive. Find your special sauce and share it with the world…don’t let us miss out on your unique flavor! If you don’t know where to start, Olivewood is a great place to go. I know because I’ve been there!

If you like the images accompanying this story and would like to explore how visual storytelling could help your organization share the heart of its mission, please visit my website, www.soulvoyagerstudios.com, or send me an email at soulvoyagerstudios@gmail.com. To receive each blog post in your inbox when it is posted, as well as regular content regarding visual storytelling and inspiring ways to make a difference in this world, subscribe to my newsletter below!