And what they are growing (we also put the names of plants in different languages, in the raised beds). These simple signsfacilitate talking to others in the gardenwhen we do happen to bethere together. We can call each other by name. We can ask questions about the food each other is growing. We have been given the first tools of speaking across small distances with big differences. And this, in turn, helps in the successful growing of food and less wastedproduce because we can more easily help one another weed, or water, or harvest. For instance, the Okubatsion family might not be able to make it to the garden one week, and they can ask the Ponayo family to water their tomatoes? It's person to person, and land to land. Or: the Osorios might have too much arugula than they can eat one week, and they can let the Eltayebs know to help themselves. These simple hand-written signsalso signal to the many after-hours visitors to our little urban farmtwo important things: a) that these are beds that are the hard work of particular individuals --this can help with the pesky problem of food theft that menaces all the community gardens in town; and b) it signals to the greaterGuelphcommunity that this is a space of low tech yet authentic inclusivity and diversity.

(Picture below: The Osorio girls with some greens).