Yardin Garden

This is Kolai. He loves the Yardin and would give his life for it. I once saw him leaning over the tomato seedlings, shading them from the sun (they must have complained or something). He listens to the needs of the plants as much as he listens to his own children and will do anything that they ask of him.

He hangs out with The Pooh whenever he’s not at the Yardin. But mostly, he is interested in seeing fruit and vegetables on his plate at the end of the day. My guess is that he wouldn’t mind paying a pretty penny so the Yardin would flourish.

It’s The Pooh! In case you were wondering, she doesn’t have a little pig friend named piglet or a human named Christopher Robin. She gets the name from the red shirts she always wears. She always wears red shirts. It’s really quite ridiculous. 

The Pooh comes up with our strategies. In fact, she had a great idea about releasing bunnies into neighboring plots. This would definitely amp up the cute factor of the entire community garden, she claimed. And the bunnies might get hungry, this giving us the best looking garden in the world. Quite the claim.

This man is Juice. He gets this name from the way he inspires us to be the very best Yardiners we can be. This man has lists and schedules and bitcoins rattling all over in his busy mind. As mentioned in a previous post, the Return of the Yardin was his idea. And we all thank him for it by patting him on the head and, almost as often, the back.

If you ever see him hanging out with Tianity, don’t wonder if there is something going on: there is. They are both Keepers of the amazing ability to hang out with just the two of them while staring deeply into each other’s eyes. 

This is Shonzee. See him till the earth. Without this man, the Yardin would fall into ruin. His presence alone brings reassurance to the young plants hiding deep in the fertile soil. He is like a young fox among the plants, whisking in and out of the leaves, protecting and cultivating.

Shonzee is a developer of all sorts, plants and otherwise. In fact, he told me that he was going to write an app that solved global hunger. I told him that he was crazy and that he should just make something that told us whose turn it was to water the Yardin. He said “We’ll see” but in a way that means “No”.

Meet Tianity. She is the one who has dedicated her time in the Yardin to distracting the plants. Like, just the other day I was in the Yardin and the plants (especially the Basil, they’re the worst) were complaining about the weed situation. I mean, don’t they know that we can’t control some things in the world? Seriously, plants.

Anyway, give Tianity the word and she will stand on one leg or bust out the flute and distract the plants from any worries they may have. Can you imagine watching someone stand on one leg when you don’t even have any legs yourself?!

This time Juice was to blame. The Facebook started to make some random comments about things we did in the past, and the old Yardin’ Garden blog bubbled to the surface. It couldn’t stay down.

He brought it to the ORB Council’s attention during our weekly meeting and it was voted on without much controversy. After five years, the idea of a community garden would again be planted in our hearts and take root deep down in the nutrient-rich soil of our west suburban hearts.

The B.O.E. (bit of earth) is only 30x30, but it’s enough for us to manage. We took too big of a bite last time and it cost us. One thing is certain. We are not messing around.