Gardening as Resistance

by Rebekah Fraser, Friends of the West River Peace Garden

These days, with anger and hate filling our airwaves, it’s easy to forget that simple choices can be acts of peaceful resistance.

Each week, from May to November, a small, dedicated group of volunteers stewards the West River Peace Garden. As an official United Nations Peace Messenger City, New Haven has a special mission to model and uphold peace wherever possible. By cultivating beauty on a small patch of land between MLK Boulevard and Legion at the corner of Ella Grasso Blvd., New Haven Peace Gardeners resist and subvert the forces that promote fear and injustice.
Earlier this summer, flooding caused a sinkhole in one corner of the garden, necessitating a major rebuild of drainage infrastructure that has been underway for several months. Still, the Peace Gardeners persist on their Friday workdays. To join us, visit Community Greenspace Volunteer Workdays at https://bit.ly/3TeNr8M.

More information about the Peace Garden is at https://westriverpeacegarden.org.