Meet Veronica Holbrook | Host of Strub Community Garden
We had the good fortune of connecting with Veronica Holbrook and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Veronica, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Well, it’s a community garden, not a business. But the thought process of beginning the garden was really brought about by a person I met who had the same desire for creating a sustainable community of sharing resources. She saw my backyard when she came to pick oranges and asked what I had planned to do with the space. Since I had just bought the place, I had no plans because I was out of money at the time. She suggested turning it into a farm. That wasn’t even on my radar but I was open to more information on this idea. So it began as something ran by a farmer, who used the produce to sell at farmer’s markets. As volunteers started coming regularly the farm began to evolve to something more community focused. Two of the volunteers: Iris – who was the person who introduced the idea, and Gretchen – someone who loved learning and sharing knowledge, and I, Veronica, the property owner sat down and talked about the vision of the garden. We decided we wanted a place for people of like mind could come and learn about gardening, share in the produce of garden, and build community with others who wanted to sustain this garden. That started about 10 years ago and continues today.
Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Strub Community Garden is hosted in the backyard of a Whittier local. Some of the volunteers say it’s more of a co-op than a community garden since we are a symbiotic joining of people coming together for a common purpose instead of individual garden plots. We decide together what crops to grow and work together to create an environment that is optimal for the food we plant. We all eat from the shared production of the garden too.
This space is also a learning space. People who don’t have any experience with gardening are welcome to come and learn as they volunteer. We have hosted Boy Scout and Girl Scout groups to provide learning opportunities for them. We have also had students from local schools complete senior projects or use this space as a field trip. Prior to Covid we would have workshops on different topics. We’d like to get back to that one day.
This is also a space of community sharing. We are all about a sustainable system. We don’t only take from the garden but we bring goods to share. People bring produce, clothes, housewares, etc. that they no longer want from their homes. We trade, reuse, and repurpose instead of wasting and discarding. We push back against unsustainable food practices with our desire to create an environment that can be maintained through sharing.
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Uptown Whittier is a great place to start with all the eateries, bars, and cute stores. During the summer they have family nights on Wednesday evenings. There are several trail heads that go into the surrounding hills and the city created The Greenway Trail that replaces an old abandoned railroad track.
For a haunted experience and a really cool place to go antiquing, we would recommend King Richard’s.
There are several nice parks in the area: Penn Park, Michigan Park, Palm Park, Central Park. During the summer they host concerts in the park at Palm and Central.
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
A shoutout goes to Iris Marialaki-Isozaki for seeing this space as a garden before it ever was one. If she hadn’t asked, it never would have become what it is today. Also to Gretchen Heimlich-Villalta. She was the first volunteer that saw a vision for this garden as a community place where people could come together and learn how to grow healthy food from the local soil.
A shout out also goes to all the people who have visited the garden and volunteered their time to plant and harvest and share the space.
Instagram: @StrubAveGarden
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StrubAvenueFarm/
Youtube: https://youtu.be/xTsaXB32AHI
Image Credits
Strub Ave Organizers
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