Garden program helps female inmates deal with doing their time.
Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Plant Pros
Local volunteers share their gardening expertise behind bars
By Shari Kaplan
Photographs by Kathy De La Torre
This used to be among my prayers--a piece of land not so very large, which would contain a garden, and near the house a spring of ever-flowing water, and beyond these a bit of wood. The celebrated Greek poet and essayist Horace wrote these words in 30 B.C. More than two millennia later, not much has changed.Although there's less space for gardening nowadays, especially in such idyllic surroundings as Horace describes, many people still yearn to dig their hands into the earth, plant a garden and harvest the fruits of their labors--whether they're behind bars or behind picket fences.
For some gardeners, having something pleasing to look at, smell or eat is reward enough. For others, the cultivation of a tree, flower or plant goes beyond the empirical realm to become an emotionally fulfilling experience--especially when they can share it with others.
Despite differences in their reasons for being there, a group of women gets together every Wednesday to tend "a piece of land not so very large," tucked away on the minimum-security women's portion of Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas.
They also spend time learning about various horticultural topics, such as how to transplant and propagate cuttings, how flowers carry on reproduction and fruit production, how to deal with such undesirables as weeds and bugs, and other topics. Occasionally, they take part in craft workshops where they make items, such as potpourri pouches, holiday wreathes and herbal nosegays.
Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Monte Sereno resident and Master Gardener Catherine Graff, center, helps inmate Maricella Ruiz trim a geranium bush in the garden.
Acting as instructors and mentors to the inmates in the Elmwood Floriculture Program are a number of West Valley area residents, all certified graduates of and volunteers with the Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County. The floriculture program is a nonprofit volunteer undertaking comprising a variety of community outreach projects and educational programs.
Master Gardeners: Learn what it takes to become a Master Gardener.
Inmate Elena Taylor is among the floriculture program's biggest fans, and is known to offer friendly advice to inmates and Master Gardeners alike. She's even shared her favorite recipe for garden-fresh salsa with the group. Taylor says she definitely wants to have her own garden once she leaves Elmwood and "gets settled." Over the past three years, she has moved six times, so a garden is still something of a dream.
For now, she satisfies her longings by faithfully participating in the floriculture program every week. "One of the things I like about it is just being outside and connecting with nature. We're so deprived of that in there," she says, looking toward the jail's imposing edifice. "It's a very sterile environment; everything is cement and metal."
According to Catherine "Cathy" Graff of Monte Sereno, who became a Master Gardener in 1999, there are more than 50 positions and activities in which Master Gardeners can participate. What got her involved in the Elmwood Floriculture Program is similar to what inspired her to become a Master Gardener in the first place: it's how she grew up.
Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Inmate Eleanor Holdcraft does some weeding in part of the garden at the Elmwood Correctional Facility.
"I've been involved with a lot of volunteer organizations over the years--since I was 10 years old, in fact. I can't think of a time that I didn't do volunteer work. Everybody can give a little of themselves," Graff says. Her mother was a great role model, Graff says, because she was always offering to do things to help others, and taught her daughter the joy of doing the same.
"It's hard for me to imagine why someone wouldn't like gardening. I love creating something from nothing!" Graff adds, smiling. "My parents loved gardening, too, and, unlike the average teenager, when they asked me to prune the rose bushes or do other things, I said 'OK! I can do that!'"
Graff says volunteering at Elmwood has shown her that women who are incarcerated are not all that different from anyone else, save for the fact that they're paying for making bad choices in life, or for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Establishing trust and familiarity between the volunteer gardeners and inmates is a component of the program. For example, the program suggests allowing an inmate to reveal her reason for being locked up, if she chooses to do so, rather than having a volunteer pointedly ask about it.
Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Heidi Rad, an inmate at Elmwood Correctional Facility, moves sunflower seedlings out of the greenhouse. Master Gardeners sold many of the seedlings at a recent plant sale.
Los Gatan Penny Cheney, co-chairperson of the Elmwood Floriculture Program, says it always heartens her to see how much the inmates enjoy the program. "By and large, it seems that everyone whom I've spoken with here has some sort of background or family interest in gardening. They're looking for a connection," Cheney says about inmates she's encountered at Elmwood.
As with most of the volunteers, Helen Jarvis of Cupertino enjoys the program as much--if not more--than the inmates.
"I love this program so much; I don't know what I like the most--like seeing a woman who has never held a squiggly worm in her hands before, learning what worms do and how they feel," says Jarvis, who has devoted more than 500 hours to the Master Gardeners Program since 1997.
Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Inmate Irma Perry waters the Elmwood garden. Behind the fence, in another part of the garden, are Master Gardeners Penny Cheney of Los Gatos (center) and Sandy Gaudie of Los Altos.
"Some of the women just blossom; their faces just light up when they're in the garden," Jarvis says, recalling the time an inmate told her that gardening was something she always wanted to do, but somehow never got around to. Some say this is the only place they can find true peace and quiet, Jarvis says, while others say they love to dig in the dirt. She's noticed the digging seems to help some of the women deal with feelings of frustration and anger.
"From the very beginning, I was interested in the Elmwood program. I like working with adults, and I used to teach middle school so I know how to communicate," Cheney adds with a chuckle. "I've never been dissatisfied with the Elmwood program. I always find it interesting that people can be positive in a situation like this."
Graff has similar observations. "A lot of the women will come up to you and hug you," she says. Some participants have announced that when they leave Elmwood, they would like to become Master Gardeners themselves. One woman said she hopes to get a job in the garden department of Orchard Supply Hardware, and many express interest in maintaining their own gardens.
Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Senior Master Gardener Helen Jarvis of Cupertino gives a lecture on plant propagation to the inmates at Elmwood Correctional Facility. Afterwards, they went to the garden to practice what they learned.
"I've always had a green thumb," Elena Taylor adds, smiling from behind a table of sunflower seedlings she and her fellow inmates have been cultivating in the garden's small greenhouse. "People would always bring their dead plants to me. After I got them healthy again, I'd give them back!"
Graff, Cheney, Jarvis and the other Master Gardeners hope that what Taylor can do for plants, the floriculture program can help do for the Elmwood inmates looking forward to making a fresh start in society. A flourishing garden requires patience and hard work, but if inmates can succeed in this microcosm of life, they can possibly succeed elsewhere, as well.
As another celebrated poet and writer--William Shakespeare--once wrote:
Our bodies are to gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners.
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
