Wanda Stewart – Free to Dig in the Dirt
In this inspiring episode Designers of Paradise host Erik van Lennep talks with Life Educator, Wanda Stewart of Oakland California. Wanda is a social innovator, community builder and garden activist. She runs garden-based education programs for schools in Oakland California. Erik and Wanda talk about Wanda’s path from starting to garden as a hobby, inspired by a disruptive opportunity that arrived in the form of a new fence (new fences make good gardeners?), to today working with school children on food and gardens. They touch on multiple roles of food from helping hungry kids, to knitting neighborhoods together, and inspiring learning. Wanda describes the tension for the kids between keeping their sneakers clean (“for Mom”) and being “free to dig in the dirt.” As she says “if you can grow a garden, you can grow a community.” Some references from the conversation: * “Our school loves chayote” * video of West Oakland’s Hoover Elementary School garden (10′) Designers of Paradise is made possible, in part, by Mind & Media. Over the last quarter century, the writers, producers, storytellers and media specialists at Mind & Media have spearheaded a multitude of engaging and complex communication campaigns. Disclaimer – Thanks for your patience with (at times) “kitchen table” recording quality. It’s our hope that you will enjoy hearing our interviews as if you were sitting in on the conversations. As we further develop our resources and capacity, we will be bringing the audio closer to studio standards. Meanwhile, thanks for listening!