Responding Together - March 2026

Our co-founder, Mary Anne and staff member, Kyle Gookins, each answered a question from the our Listening Cards.

Mary Anne Inglis, Co-Founder

What is your experience with gardening or gardens? Who first shared a garden or gardening with you? 
Hello Neighbor Category

It seems the seed catalogs know just when to show up in our mailbox each year - in the middle of winter. The bursts of color from the vegetables, fruits and flowers pop off the pages and I can’t seem to get enough of them as I dream of the subtle winter colors turning to bright green. I usually start my tomatoes, eggplant and peppers by mid-February in our makeshift greenhouse in the southern window of our garage.  It is a practice of hope and celebration of new life each time I push the little seeds into the small seed starters.  At the same time, I watch our blueberry bushes in our garden start with the faintest of buds and hold my breath until the last danger of frost passes, ensuring that we will have a good crop in the summer. 

I didn’t grow up with a garden, but my paternal grandparents always had one in their backyard.  The story from my father is that during the Great Depression, he and his family tended three large gardens in his hometown of Augusta, Kentucky, to help feed the community out of my grandfather’s small Presbyterian Church.  My father always said he had had enough of gardening and tending our yard when was young was enough for him.  Then I met my future  mother-in-law, who had an amazing green thumb and loved to garden.  She passed that love on to her children and my husband passed it on to our children as we started our own home garden many years ago.  

Now, I am teased relentlessly that the zinnias and sunflowers and various pollinators are the priority in the garden before the tomatoes, beans and squash.  Something about those winter catalogs that carry their hope of new creation forward to fill the long summer days with color, life and hope.  The gift of working the soil and harvesting the beauty and sustenance from it is something that seems not only cyclical, but eternal, and I am grateful for all those who have passed that gift along to me. 

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Kyle Gookins, Staff Member

We have designed our homes so that most of our outdoor living/cooking spaces are behind instead in front. Do you think this might impact our interactions with our neighbors? What are your thoughts or experiences?
Hello Neighbor Category

I have been fortunate to live on both coasts of the United States. I was born and raised in the High Desert of Southern California and have lived in Atlanta Georgia for the last 4ish years. Growing up, everything we did was in the back yard, or in a neighbor’s back yard. This was also a time when what street you lived on dictated who your friends were. We had all of our birthday and holiday celebrations in our back yard and behind a chain link fence. The only sign in the front of our house was maybe the balloon tied to our front gate, but usually everyone that attended was invited.

Now I live in a historic neighborhood within the city of Atlanta called Grant Park. Every house has a large covered wrap around porch and most of my neighbors sit in the front most mornings and evenings. It was part of the charm that urged us to buy our house, sight unseen (story for a different card)! I positioned my grill on the side of my front porch so that I can chat to people that walk by my house. It should be stated that I also have a 6 foot metal brachiosaurus and an LED chandelier hanging from my front tree, so there are no shortages of things for passersby to chat with me about. This was all done intentionally. 

As a result, I know all of my neighbors by name, have their cell numbers, and invite them to every gathering we have at our house. Most mornings I chat to one to three neighbors while walking my son to school.

This past October my 7 year old son and I were on our front porch and he wanted to walk out of the front gate and look at our giant 13.5 foot animatronic werewolf. I told him he could as long as he stayed on our side of the sidewalk, as we live on a busy road. Our neighbor across the street could not see me and only saw Otis walk out of the front gate. He immediately came across the road to chat to Otis and make sure he wasn't eloping into the busy road. Once he saw me he said hi and that he didn't realize that I was on the porch. We stood in the yard for a bit and shared a beer and chatted. It is times like this one I am grateful for the community that I live in and for the front porch that allows me to connect with my neighbors. If we were in the backyard, I would have missed out on that connection that day amongst the many others that I have had the past 4ish years.

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Thank you for joining us for this special opportunity to hear the voices of the women who started it all, Mary Anne and Victoria.

Want to share YOUR voice? Join us for an upcoming event!