For those of you that don't know me, I'm a pilot with a major airline and on a Thursday, January 18th, 2018 I was on a layover on the Big Island of Hawaii in Kona. Back then I would go for early morning runs for exercise, and my favorite run was to head from our hotel to the area known as the Old Airport. This area, aptly named, was the previous Kona airport and had been transformed back into a wonderful community space with beaches, a skateboard park, and community gardens complete with walking/running/exercise trails paved through them.  I had made this morning run many times, admiring the gardens, mongoose and feral cats lounging around, but on this day I saw a pickup truck parked near the path, full of plants and five or six people setting up to garden. I jogged past, intent on my 3-mile exercise plan, then thought to myself, “you've never seen anyone actually gardening, and you may not get this chance again.” So I turned around, went back to where the people were, introduced myself and said “I have a strange request, but would you mind if I put a plant in the ground?”

I don't know why it was so important to me, but it was, hands in the dirt, planting something that next time I went running, I could monitor it's growth, and feel the satisfaction of knowing I helped with the beauty of this place.

So the ladies found me a pair of gloves, and some tools, and I selected a beautiful Agave quadricolor and planted it. But it didn't stop there, I decided to spend the next several hours helping plant that section of the garden, and a friendship grew in that space as I worked side by side with these gardeners. When it was time to finish up, I exchanged phone numbers and learned their group took care of a large expanse of succulent gardens and came every Thursday morning to work from 8 to noon.  They invited me back anytime I could get a layover in Kona, and also to their fellowship and pot luck lunch after gardening.

I'm so glad that I got out of my comfort zone and spoke up, experiences like this fueled my desire to join the ranks of UCCE Master Gardeners in Solano County, and fed my already fanatical addiction to succulents. I want to encourage everyone, don't be afraid to jump in, even on a vacation, if you get a chance to garden, DO IT… for the love of gardening.