Fueled by Clouds & Coffee: Maple Leaf Community Garden

6/22/23 Maple Leaf Community Garden

My friend Alice, who spoils me with beautiful, delicious produce from her garden, also gardens in our neighborhood’s P-Patch. Tucked away in plain sight like an Easter egg, the Maple Leaf Community Garden is hard to find, even if you’re looking for it, and if you’re not, you could easily drive or walk by without noticing it. Yet even so, it has a prominent tool shed that looks like a Hobbit house near the entrance. Despite being only about 4,000 steps from home, it’s on a street that I don’t usually walk or drive on without specific purpose – such as sketching at the P-Patch as Alice has been suggesting for years.

Earlier this week, I finally walked the 4,000 steps up Eighth Northeast to look for it, and the Hobbit house immediately caught my eye from the street (since I knew where to look). A few days later when it was warmer, I spent more time inside the garden, admiring the flowers. A couple of bald eagles called to each other, soaring overhead. Sunny and 59 degrees – the bees and hummingbirds sure were happy, and so was I.