dereke's picture

Gardening 101

Submitted by dereke on Tue, 2012-02-14 03:15

Olivewood Gardens, one of the most peaceful places I have ever been to. Picture a lush garden, palm trees, a slight sea breeze, a panoramic view of your surroundings, and the warm sun of Southern California all put together in a few acres. This is it, it is great, and it was the Waltons (Walmart founders). They generously donated this piece of property and home to an organization that eventually turned it into Olivewood Gardens and Education Center. Our time spent here is sometimes very tranquil and relaxing, but it isn't always this way. After working with a school group the first day, we were asked to dig a garden bed. This garden bed was quite the task considering the ground was rock hard and the trench was large. The project was a great intro to our time at Olivewood.

bent's picture

Gardening in February

Submitted by bent on Sun, 2012-02-12 16:08

Southern California sure has been treating us well. Gosh I'm happy to be a migratory creature—a snowbird, if you will. I'm a wanderer driven by the subtle nudges of a cold night or a southbound goose. Don't get me wrong, I love a good cold snow-filled winter. Often I find myself dreaming of being on cross country skis in Michigan, or back on a dogsled in Montana. More often though, I find myself appreciating the fact that it's February and sunny and I'm comfortable outdoors in shorts. The other day I was working in a garden—watering plants and digging holes and just getting dirty outside; then I realized it was February and I couldn't wipe the smile off my face.

chadd's picture

Livin' at the Ritz

Submitted by chadd on Sun, 2012-02-12 14:11

    Oh Southern California how I love your climate. Waking up to palm trees and blue skies is something I greatly appreciate. We've had rain once since being here, otherwise it's been a sunny 70ish degrees and very enjoyable. I hate to admit this next part but I feel I have too. I'm from Michigan and cold weather is normal. Today it got what I thought was cold out, so I put on a thick sweater and jacket. Soon after, I proceeded to put a winter cap on. I then looked at the thermometer and it was a bone chilling 60 degrees outside. I would have guessed it was in the high 40's or at least that's what it felt like. Seems I've turned into one of the youngest snow birds and am a wuss when it comes to "chilly weather". 

chadd's picture

Blog.

Submitted by chadd on Mon, 2012-02-06 13:56

    Its definitely been a pretty awesome couple days for me. We pulled into the Dream Center on Thursday not really expecting how incredible it really would be. The Dream Center is Christian based and for people that have been addicted to drugs, alcohol, abuse, homeless and the list goes on. The campus is an old 700 room hospital and been renovated for it current purpose of housing all these people. It's volunteer driven and serves over 40,000 people a month. Most of the people there have been through the ringer and are now some of the happiest people I have met.  They send a few food trucks out in the morning and afternoon and give out food to the poor and people in need. We went in the most dangerous parts of town where it would not be safe at all for me to walk around.

bent's picture

The Dream Center

Submitted by bent on Mon, 2012-02-06 13:56

The Los Angeles Dream Center has been our home since Thursday. This place is absolutely awesome. My experiences during our short visit here have been incredible. I really don’t like the thought of leaving this place.

The Dream Center is a volunteer driven organization dedicated to serving people in L.A. It is essentially a very active church that never sleeps—seemingly never even takes a break. The number of projects, ministries, events, and programs here is immense… you’d really have to check out there website to get a sense of what all goes on here.

http://www.dreamcenter.org/about-us/