Early August saw a flurry of activity in a quiet Petaluma neighborhood. 

A group of youth brought their skills and energy — along with raised beds and chairs they’d built — to transform a patch of dirt into a usable garden.

At La Tercera Community Garden, Girls Garage wasted no time in building a shade structure as well, completing the project in a matter of days. Local volunteers assisted in the effort. 

Girls Garage is a Berkeley-based nonprofit design and construction school for girls and gender-expansive youth ages 9 to 18.

Petaluma Bounty’s role

Petaluma Bounty has a long history of starting and supporting community gardens.

From 2007 to 2012, Petaluma Bounty and a dedicated group of volunteers helped create eight community gardens through the initiative, Garden Starts. The first two community gardens were located on elementary school sites; and the third community garden was aptly located at La Tercera Park (which means “the Third” in Spanish) on the east side of Petaluma. The La Tercera Community Garden was a collaboration between Petaluma Bounty, the City of Petaluma and the“Take Back La Tercera Park” neighborhood group.

But due to various reasons including resources, the garden at La Tercera fell into disarray. A review of the park posted on Google five years ago stated that the park is a friendly place. “But I wish they would get rid of that unsightly ‘community garden’ that NO ONE has used in over 5 years!”

In 2023, after years of behind-the-scenes advocacy, Petaluma Bounty signed an agreement with the City of Petaluma to step into a coordinating role for community gardens on city property. The agreement provided funding for Petaluma Bounty to establish a Community Gardens Coordinator position and thus begin the process of revitalizing and supporting gardens with a vision of thriving community gardens supporting food access and a healthy Petaluma.

Petaluma Bounty facilitated community meetings with interested gardeners and connected with key City personnel to have infrastructure reestablished. And with much excitement, Bounty connected with Girls Garage.

Girls Garage makes a difference

Girls Garage offers classes in carpentry, welding, architecture, and activist art, supporting and growing a community of fearless youth who are building the world they want to see.

Some of the more recent projects include a chicken coop for a middle school and a float for the San Francisco Pride Parade. Mariella, 18, joined Girls Garage about three years ago. “This industry is dominated by males. I wanted to get my foot in learning and knowledge of what can be done,” she said. She plans on pursuing studies in architectural engineering. But Girls Garage is more than simply learning skills and completing projects, she said. “Together, we learn and push each other.”

“Petaluma Bounty is incredibly grateful to Girls Garage for helping to bring the community’s vision for La Tercera Garden to life,” says Cait, Bounty’s new Community Gardens Coordinator whose first day on the job coincided with the rebuild. “It’s been amazing to watch this garden be transformed by the skill, dedication, and teamwork of this next generation of builders. In your hands, the future is undoubtedly bright.”

More than a space to garden

Nearby resident Katherine is itching to grow veggies and maybe even flowers at La Tercera. With her mother in tow, she arrived wearing a big sun hat and gloves to pitch into Girls Garage’s efforts last Thursday. Katherine got hooked into gardening as a therapeutic and productive activity during the pandemic. But she recently moved from a house to an apartment where her gardening space became severely limited.

For her, La Tercera is becoming more than a space to garden.

“I get to meet all these cool people that I didn’t even know were doing this,” she said of Girls Garage. “So, it’s just, more than gardening. You get to build it all together, you know,” she said. “This is so cool.”