Chapter 1: Community Garden

It was a strange sight, such an empty landscape save but one large Victorian manor house. Bridget Tevellyn was standing on the edge of her new property, looking out at what had once been the ranch town of Appaloosa Plains. This was only the second time she'd been here, and it was as empty as it had been on her first visit. On that trip, this view over the hills and to the river what sold her on signing the papers to buy the lot.

It had been all over the news - all of the struggling town's buildings except the old boarding house had been condemned and cleared away. In an experimental effort to revitalize the area, the regional government sunk millions into cleaning it up, repaving its roads and refurbishing its one remaining building. Since it was a boarding house, the Governor rationalized that it could provide temporary lodging for people who were interested in moving there. He sweetened Appaloosa's appeal by announcing new grant funding for building new community assets and businesses. The hope was that all this would be enough to fuel the town’s rebirth.

For Bridget, the view represented unlimited opportunity. Appaloosa was a blank slate - not yet like the catty small towns she was used to and far from the bustle of a city.

But this visit wasn’t about her new property, it was about another, just down the hill. Bridget walked along the freshly resurfaced sidewalk, taking in the views of her new home. If her mother could see how empty this town was, she might have a heart attack. Bridget couldn’t help but laugh to herself at the thought. Her mother thrived in their small town, running community luncheons and collecting all the latest gossip about every neighbor and their cousin. She’d have no idea what to do with herself if there wasn’t community center, café or diner to meet people and learn as much about them as possible. Bridget had never understood her mother’s obsession with the lives of everyone else and it certainly fed into her desire to move away. Hopefully not all small town communities were so fixated on rumor and meddling in each other’s lives – she’d hate to see Appaloosa Plains become precisely what she was trying to escape.

The contractors were already at work getting fence posts in place. As she approached the lot, her concerns about the town’s future were washed away by her renewed excitement and optimism. It was one thing to submit a grant application, it was another to see her plan for a community garden coming to life right there in front of her.

She cheerfully called out to announce her presence. “Hello! Wow, already working hard!”

An older man turned. “You must be Bridget,” he said with a smile. “Pleasure to meet you.”

“The pleasure is all mine,” Bridget beamed. “I can’t believe this is really happening.”

“Your plans are very straight-forward, we should have it all set up for you in no time,” the man replied. “I’m Jim, by the way. I’ll probably be heading-up most of the construction projects around here.”

“Well, if you have the time, I did buy the property at the intersection just up the hill,” Bridget’s smile shrank to a more awkward, apologetic expression.

“When we’re done for the day and my crew is cleaning up, why don’t we walk up and you can let me know what you have in mind?” Jim said casually. “It’s really just a fence and some garden beds we have to set up here, not much time or trouble at all. We could even be done tomorrow and be able to start on your place.”

“Really?!” Bridget breathed a sigh of relief. “I’d forgotten to ask about help building my house, I was so focused on this garden and the property paperwork…”

Jim gave her a warm smile. “Not to worry,” he said. “I expect we’ll be doing a lot of building out here, so I haven’t been accepting as many jobs elsewhere.”

Reassured, Bridget didn’t think much of Jim’s accommodating attitude about Appaloosa Plains. Wasn’t this a bit far to come if he could get work elsewhere? Perhaps the government was subsidizing work out here, so he’d be making more money by focusing on rebuilding the town. Whatever the reason, Bridget was just happy to get things going. She introduced herself to some of the crew members and offered to help.

“Maybe you could focus on the garden beds?” one man suggested. “Three of us is plenty for the fence. But you’ll need more soil for the planters, so you can get started on that. Or marking where you want the edges of each raised bed to be.”

Bridget nodded and got to work – she was even more motivated to help knowing that the sooner they finished the garden, the sooner they could start building a place for her to sleep.

After a long day, Bridget showed Jim where she wanted to build her cabin.

“Just a studio-style place for now,” she explained. “A 3-piece bathroom in the back corner, kitchen next to that, and the larger area in the front for a bed, couch and some shelves.”

Jim nodded and jotted down some notes as she walked him around. They took some measurements and decided on dimensions. He dropped her off at the boarding house before heading home himself.

The next day, they finished the garden as planned while Jim drew up some more detailed plans for Bridget’s cabin. She wondered if usually an architect or certified electrician or plumber should normally look them over to approve them, but Jim seemed to know what he was doing. After all, he’d led the work on the boarding house and that couldn’t have been easy.

Bridget accompanied the workers up to her property and Jim went over the plans with them that afternoon. They seemed to think they could get it done in just a couple weeks. Bridget would only be in town another couple of days; she’d return with her furniture when the cabin was ready. In the meantime, she would split her days between helping at the cabin and getting the community garden up and running.

She returned to a simple little cabin, surrounded by beautiful hydrangeas and purple heather. Tears welled in her eyes as she walked up to the door. It was unlocked. And it was hers.

A friend helped her unload the small moving truck she’d rented to get her bedroom set, table, chairs and kitchen supplies inside. They had to hurry so her friend could drive back and return the truck, so Bridget was soon alone, left to admire her new home.

Exhausted from the move and unpacking, it wasn’t until the next day that Bridget returned to the community garden. She walked down the hill and was delighted to see how well all the plants were doing. The sunflowers and corn stalks had skyrocketed – now almost taller than the fence – and the fruit trees were nearly fully grown.

It was really happening. She was in a new town, with a new house, and had founded a community garden for all her soon-to-be new neighbors to enjoy. She couldn’t wait to meet them.