Last Wednesday, we visited two gardens in Bronx as a part of the OSS project. The two gardens are supposed to unite the communities and encourage collaboration between the people.
Participants had a different reason as to why each of them chose the plant they did, but I decided to pick Adria Jimenez, a local who had moved to New York in 1980 from Dominican Republic. He planted bell pepper. This might be a conscious choice because of her familiarity with the plant since its used in Dominican cuisine. I feel that pepper connects het to her roots as she states that she likes trying different cuisines and cooking. cooking, especially pepper, probably connects Jimenez to her culture. Her family has a history of gardening and that. makes her have enough knowledge about bell pepper to know that it doesn’t take as much time to grow and harvest as corn. I could tell that Jimenez was very independent and self aware. This might also be the reason why she chose bell paper as it is more convenient and takes less time in comparison to corn.
The garden overall gave a sense of community. My friend was smelling the plants and one of them reminded her of her home, Morocco. Gardening promotes well-being, gives a sense of impact and creating community. Each plant has a story behind it and since they are planted together, creates a bond between the people and participants.
PEPPER
