This September 13 the Centre’s resident garden guru Debbie VanDeventer will be hosting yet another of her very popular gardening classes. This month’s class focuses on the end of the season, putting your garden to bed to ensure a healthy start next spring. Debbie’s classes are always buzz with great energy, laughter, learning, and the joy she has found and passed on to others.
Debbie, like many of us, had to switch gears part way through life. She gave up a career she’d found happiness and success with and started all over again. Debbie already had an interest in gardening, so chose to spend years back in school getting certified as a horticulturalist. A brave move that paid off as Debbie found not only that she could succeed in growing almost anything, but that she had a talent for teaching others as well. Now retired, Debbie is still incredibly busy with all her work to improve the community gardens and volunteering to educate growers in our neighbourhood and beyond.
Calling what she does garden coaching; Debbie takes local gardeners and students who consider themselves ‘black thumbs’ and shows them there is no such thing. She turns those hesitant to try or hesitant to fail into enthusiastic, empowered gardeners ready to grow. Her infectious passion for all the possibilities in a yard, garden bed, or even a little pot on a balcony have made her the person to reach out to for all things growing. She has passed on that huge sense of accomplishment that comes from nurturing something on your own and seeing it flourish. Making all those she coaches happier, healthier, and wiser while making our little corner of Calgary, greener, lusher, and more beautiful.
Debbie has a long-term vision for what our community gardens can be, as well as possibilities for our yards, balconies, and green spaces. Her willingness to jump in and try new ways of doing things has shown proven results and inspired many who’ve seen her garden plots to try and match what she’s done. More than anything though Debbie’s example is one we can all look to because the joy she’s found gardening and volunteering in our community is evident, unmistakable, and contagious!
Thank-you Debbie!
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