So once again we are back at Unity Gardens and I'm with Sarah Stewart.

Sarah, thank you so much for having us.

Absolutely delightful to be here.

And as always, it's a busy time here at Unity Gardens.

And we're going to do something a little bit different.

Sarah's going to give us a tour of the center, just to remind us some of the things that are going on here and the different resources that are available to the community.

And we're also going to find out about some of the wonderful events that are coming up.

Absolutely.

We have so much going on.

A lot of times people think that just because the active gardening season and summertime is over, that everything calms down here.

But we actually have tons of food here to share and a lot of activities, both classes and things coming out very good.

So I'm going to grab the camera and we're going to start right here in the classroom.

Okay.

That sounds great.

All right Sarah.

So where are we now and what is this space used for?

This space is used for everything.

It's primarily our classroom.

We do our gardening classes, our orchard classes, our meet and greets for our garden leaders.

But we also then do cooking and fall harvest classes, etc.

we do have some fall food series going on right now still, so that's a fantastic thing to come for.

As you can see, we also have some of our Halloween things out.

I think one of the skeletons just escaped.

But this is where we host our children.

We host our community volunteers come, we dry our herbs here, we make our raspberry teas, etc.. So this is a very busy place all the time.

Right now you can see that we're taking some of our stuff indoors, but we're also then stationing everything for our fantastic spooktacular event coming up.

And so that reminds me of that's an event that's coming up.

But leading into that, you guys are doing a couple of different drives.

You're doing a candy drive and a costume drive, and that's a really important thing.

Absolutely.

In order to do Spooktacular and host thousands of families here at Unity Gardens, October 30th, we need candy, costumes, etc.

A lot of times Halloween gets more expensive every year.

You know you're buying a new costume.

People use it once and then put it in a box.

We're asking people to bring out costumes so that people who could use their money elsewhere for groceries or basic needs can literally still enjoy Halloween.

So that is going super well.

We also want to be able to give candy and a trick or treating experience to our kids here on the West Side, so let's show people where they can come and grab a costume if there happens to be one here.

Absolutely.

Yesterday this entire area was full.

This is our sharing area.

So we have refrigerators and freezers that have different kind of meals or things that otherwise would go to waste.

And then we have our costume drive here.

This I can't believe how many costumes and how the community has stepped up for this, but clearly this morning is a different story than last night when I left because this whole thing with kids costumes, etc.

was full and now we have about four.

So we really, really do need your old costumes.

It can be so simple.

It can be adult.

It can be kid.

I mean, after all, kids at heart.

So let's talk about this.

Spectacular.

When is it happening?

Yep.

And how can people come out and be a be a part of it?

Do they need to get a ticket in advance?

Anything like that?

No no, no.

At Unity Gardens, like most of our things, it's just absolutely inclusive and barrier free.

But what we're also looking for in a big way is people that love to scare children.

We do a haunted trail that becomes a feature part of this event.

We do treats and we do, crafts and we'll have popcorn and whatnot for all the families.

But in addition, the haunted trail, especially at night through the seven acre garden, is fantastic and we are still looking for volunteers to come in scary costumes.

The event is 530 to 830 on October 30th.

Any volunteers that can come can sign up on our website w w w dot the Unity gardens.org or even call in.

We can list that they should be here at 430.

Very good.

And as we continue our tour, what is this area over here?

This is our living room and it might be my favorite area.

So often when you come into a business or public space, you come in and clearly there's offices and there are spaces for people to work.

But at Uni Gardens, we've always wanted to have a welcoming space besides just being outside for like we were the first 15 years.

So our living room is an area that we welcome people to come.

It's like a loiter here situation.

Kids can come and play with the farm themed toys.

People can come to plug in their cell phone and charge it, get out of the weather or whatnot, or just enjoy.

Sometimes we have people who are traveling and just want to work here for an hour.

So this is an open space and it's right next to our sharing area.

Our sharing areas are something the community.

Kind of encouraged us to do.

Food that otherwise would be, in the landfill is now rescued and either delivered here or we go pick it up.

We have a lot of partners.

Cultivate clay, church, great harvest spread that come and bring food.

And then people come and use the food.

And it's a completely destigmatize, barrier free opportunity for everyone to have plenty to eat.

So let's head over here to the store.

Oh, one favorite spaces.

Yes, and my assistant here is helping display some of our grown gourds and whatnot.

But our store is a place that we can allow people the opportunity to support Unity Gardens.

We have fresh produce here.

There's ice under there, so everything's super fresh from the garden.

You'll.

Even though it's October, we have so much stuff.

The garden is providing are very, very hot peppers.

Some of the best in the area, you know.

And I'm not talking jalapenos, although we have those two.

I took it really hot.

So great array of those beeswax candles, veggie pun cards, beeswax hand bombs there.

Soaps.

There's teas.

Now one of our newest things we have dried herbs as well.

And of course, our award winning honey from the hood and infused honeys.

So if you're looking for unique gifts, Unity Gardens got you covered.

We even have now, in addition to our regular beeswax lip balm tinted lip balm using beats.

So we're churning out so many garden themed ways that people can purchase unique gifts here in our area at.

This spot is just tucked full of all sorts of stuff.

Now, the store is kind of a taste of what Unity Gardens has to offer, and that reminds me of the Taste of Unity event that's coming up real soon.

Absolutely.

This year, Taste of Unity, which is our signature event held at the Palais Royal.

It's going to be November 19th, so it's the Thursday before Thanksgiving, which is the perfect time for people to enjoy not only all this good food, we have 20 of the area's best chefs that will each be preparing like a smaller d'oeuvre or a tapos, if you will.

Highlighting their whole idea is to elevate that experience.

So you want to go to their restaurant and to honor Unity Gardens.

So it is a celebration of local chefs, local food.

And we've got some return ones that everyone would expect at this event and some new players.

I'm super excited about those.

Tickets are on sale on Eventbrite.

On our website you can find that link.

We still have some opportunities for sponsorships, although not too many for tables.

So November 19th at the Palais Royale.

The Taste of Unity is a delightful mix and mingle event where everyone gets to enjoy all that food.

Now let's head outside real quick.

Sarah.

Absolutely.

Oh, and there's it's a bit chilly, but there's still a lot going on out here.

Tell us what what people can expect when they come to the gardens.

When you come to the gardens, it is just such a beautiful, you know, the weather is still nice, and a lot of people will think if there's frost going on that the garden is dead.

However, we have not only, you know, the beautiful scenery, 110 fruit trees here and seven acres of nature space.

So it's beautiful to walk around.

But we also have so much stuff that's growing and you can taste right here is actually my favorite green arugula.

You can eat the flowers.

You can eat the leaves.

Very, peppery, great with, let's say, grilled cheese and salad to give it a kick or even on pizza.

Just raw like this.

So delightful.

Every morning I eat some of this.

I love doing the tasting tour with the greens because they're so crisp at this time of year and they're so plentiful.

Yesterday I harvested for someone because some people, you know, don't know how to pick properly, and I was showing them and sharing my favorite greens, and I picked a whole bunch from here.

This is just our little accessibility garden.

We have a whole array of greens out in the main garden here as well.

And then you can see here we've got herbs still growing so people can come and just enjoy.

So good.

Who doesn't like dill.

Right.

If fresh dill with like a crab noodle salad or whatnot.

So all these different things, the lettuces, the herbs that are out here, you even can still find peppers right here in the garden.

So it's very, very fun to like go harvest, explore.

But that's not all.

We even have bunnies and goats and our geoduck.

And I'd love to show you the geoduck, because I think there's some really fun things to see there that people may not be aware of.

I mean, even in winter, the dome is growing greens, and we use this as an educational tool for schoolchildren, regardless of the age, to teach not only horticulture or culinary arts, but also renewable energy.

So let's go look at the geoduck.

It's one of my favorite spaces.

So, Sarah, we're inside the Geo Dome now.

Tell us the importance of this space.

This space is critically important for us to be able to connect our community to healthy food in nature, all year round.

A lot of times people ask, what do you do in the winter?

And at first I tell them I watch soap operas and eat bonbons, but that is not true.

We do so much in the winter, so we're growing all year round.

We're hosting classes, and we are continuing to do the events that you have come to know us for, etc.

so a lot of that.

But this space makes that field trip and education piece really come to life.

This is something that was erected in 2023 here.

It was a dream, and I had to be able to teach people when it wasn't just snowy and cold out.

We can also engage volunteers.

Some of the gems that you could see here right now is we got, like, peas growing, is and pollinator areas going and compost going.

So the growing and the eating part is not the only part that makes this so special.

This space is also special because of the way that it does not rely on energy, extra energy, to let us grow.

So whether it's the geodesic shape that maximizes sunlight, whether it's the heat sink aquaponics pond that captures it either heats in winter or cools in summer because of the way the water and the sunlight play together on the geothermal portion, with tubes right over here that increase airflow, that goes behind the aquaponics tank and underground.

And then you can see there's even windows alongside so that the composting is visible to kids, but it also generates heat.

In the summertime, you'll see these fans open where they open and close and run to cool it.

When the sun is really hot.

Right now we have both temperature extremes going on, and this does, has a thermostat that actually does that without us even having to do it.

So this is even a five year old can understand renewable energy watching this space, which I love.

So often kids don't have opportunities to do hands on learning or immersed in green space.

So this really has it all for us.

And who doesn't?

We've even got a balcony where we teach off that or discuss off that, but we also go up there just to escape into green space during the winter time.

So sometimes you'll find us up there.

So you wanted to show me something right outside the door here.

So when I'm hosting, our team is hosting, let's say, 30 children in a classroom, and they're coming through here, and they get to walk through so they can see and taste, etc.. One of my favorite features right now is to come out and be able to continue, to continue to experience the garden.

So right here, this archway is actually has some edible things that are super exciting to see if I can find one.

What's growing here is Kuku melons.

I don't know if you're familiar with Kuku.

Oh my gosh, here's one.

Yeah, look at this.

So this is a cute chameleon.

It looks like a little teeny watermelon and it tastes like a cucumber.

So during season you could just get handfuls of these.

Right now, I can usually muster out the feel.

So beautiful.

Yeah, beautiful.

And they're so tasty too.

So as kids come out, I can show them this magic.

And this is one of the things that almost every kid loves anyway.

And then if that wasn't good enough, look at this.

Oh, even.

Now, look at these two.

These cute little berries.

So they look like berries, right?

Yep.

Except they are spoon tomatoes.

Oh, so a handful of a handful of spoon tomatoes on top of a salad.

And you're not even, you know, cutting anything fantastic and fun.

So when 30 kids come out here, even if it's daily, I've got plenty to share.

So once they're kind of seeing all the ways they can interact with plants after the after tasting tour, I'll go right over here and typically pick this plant.

And the reason I picked this plant is it is such a great symbol of something we all know.

And yet plant identification, because we're 3 to 4 generations away from knowing how to eat from here.

So I show them the squares down.

If you twirl this in your hand, you could feel the creases.

I show them about how the leaves are across, like our arms are across.

Those two things tell me a lot about this plant.

So I'm already starting to know what family it might be from, but just to make sure.

So I don't need something dangerous.

I'll switch the leaf and smell it.

I know this smell and then I let them taste it.

And we all know this is a mint plant.

A mint plant has a lot of different flavors because there's a big whole family of that basil would be included.

Oregano that kind of thing.

But this is told someone kids who are not used to it.

All these different ways to start looking at plants differently.

I might show them this and go, okay.

Is that a mint plant?

And it seems so simple.

Shaped leaves different.

It's, not leaves across from one another.

Definitely don't want to eat that.

So to me, this really starts bringing that education piece by attraction and hands on learning in a whole different way.

And when we get people's, natural curiosity flowing again, the garden becomes a huge, not only playground, but learning lab.

So, Sarah, thank you so much for showing us around.

And remember, guys, the spectaculars coming up real quick.

The taste of unity is also coming up real quick, so be sure to check out their website for more information.

And if you have those old costumes in your closet or whatever, dig them out and bring them on down so that somebody else can have an even better Halloween this season.

Thank you so much, Sarah.

Thank you.

It's delightful to share.