Lovin' My Community

Five years ago, I drove into the town of Fort Bragg with little more than my weary truck could hold, my sweet dog Kenya, a broken heart and a sprinkle of hope for a better life on the Mendocino Coast. Within days, I found a job, I scored a cabin in the redwoods, and I met incredibly helpful, inspiring, loving people who let me know that I was welcome here.

I quickly found that my passion for positive, meaningful, lasting social change through community agriculture was shared by many people here and within no time I found myself united with several motivated, capable, fun-loving people. We decided on a name and a mission and we became the Noyo Food Forest.

Flash forward to the Earth Day Festival held last month at The Learning Garden at Fort Bragg High School. A fabulous gathering of the beautiful people of the Mendocino Coast! At one point during the day, from my viewpoint on stage as the event’s emcee, I welled up with tears at the sight of my community. When I looked out over the crowd, I saw the familiar smiling faces of children, elders, and every age in between celebrating the Cool Blue Planet. Over 1,500 people celebrated with us that day and over 30 local businesses and organizations came together to produce the event for the community. It was a true community event, made possible by the generous donations of 20 business sponsors and the volunteer efforts of 70 local people. Incredible!

As we cleaned up the Garden at the end of the day, I remembered my personal journey from sleeping in my truck on my first night in town, to the first meeting of the five women founders of the Noyo Food Forest in Katrina’s garage, to the digging of beds at The Learning Garden at Earth Day 2007, to this wonderful, sunny day in April 2009. I felt overwhelmed with gratitude for the people of this community, this place I call home, Fort Bragg. I am humbled by your openness to an outsider from Louisiana, your warmth, and your willingness to work hard for a better world. I’m not sure if my story would be possible in any other place.

Thank you, Fort Bragg, for embracing the vision that “Another World Is Possible!” Thank you to all of the individuals, businesses, and organizations that made Earth Day a living example of what we want our world to be like. Thank you to each of you who make this community such a wonderful place to live. And thank you, fellow Noyo Food Foresters, for your commitment to “Being the Change we wish to see in the world.”