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A RADICAL PLAN, VILLAGE HOMES, DAVIS CA






This week we continue plumbing the potential of gardens and gardeners for growing a future we want to cultivate- for the benefit of all. In order to look forward, we look back to the radical plan of a 50-year-old intentionally-designed community-and sustainability-oriented housing development, Village Homes, in Davis, California.


Central to the intelligent design? You got it, Gardens and Greenspaces at every turn, and accessible to all. With the community now celebrating its 50th year, Cultivating Place is joined by Carol Hillhouse, UC Davis Student Farm Associate Director Emeritus, and Robert Thayer, Landscape Architect, both Gardeners by nature and longtime residents of Village Homes.


50 years ago an architect and his environmental psychologist wife had a radical plan for what city communities could look like, how they could function more beneficially, and how they could grow our world better for individuals and for society–economically and environmentally. Their plan became Village Homes,

and integral to their design and its intelligent and intentional design are gardens, orchards, and communally tended greenspaces throughout the community. The history and impact of Village Homes is the subject of a new exhibition on view now through June 19th at the UC Davis Design Museum.


It was radical 50 years ago, and the idea remains radical today. Enjoy!


Follow Village Homes online:


All photos courtesy of Jennifer Jewell, Carol Hillhouse, Robert Thayer, and Village Homes, all rights reserved.


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JOIN US again next week, when Host Abra Lee is in conversation with Brent "Fig" Figlestahler of Cylburn Arboretum in Baltimore, Maryland. Fig sees public gardens as communal spaces of learning, from composting toilets to the practical lessons of garden challenges. That's right here, next week. Listen in!


Cultivating Place is made possible in part by listeners like you and by generous support

from

in honor of Bailey Shaw


supporting initiatives that empower women and help preserve the planet through the intersection of environmental advocacy, social justice, and creativity.


We are also made possible through support from Heirloom, growers of roses and more in St. Paul, Oregon, helping you grow the garden of your dreams.

Every plant from Heirloom begins with careful selection and years of work with expert

hybridizers, ensuring strength, beauty, and bloom year after year. Shipped nationwide, each rose and perennial carries that care straight to your garden.

Visit heirloomroses.com to learn more about the craft behind every bloom

and the hybridizers who created them.

 






Thinking out loud this week...


Hey, it's Jennifer—


Intelligent design for everything – homes, communities, economies, cities, and countries simply must include the plants of place. That’s how this planetary place has evolved, and how we have evolved with it.


What do you think? If you have a planning and planting story to share – send us an email: info@cultivatingplace.org!


I don’t know about you, but it already feels like summer here. And the abundance, the sheer luxury of the plant biomass speaks to me of gratitude. Gratitude for the gifts of this planet, gratitude for the gifts of the sun and the moon, and the many gardeners here endeavoring to cultivate our places with care. From our sustaining members (I like to think of us as a great green tent), to those who routinely join us for monthly gatherings like last week’s Communing book club focused on the messages of Terry Tempest Williams’ new book The Glorians, and how those messages might inform how and why we cultivate our places,


I just want to say thank you for being here. For setting your garden life intentions again and again toward how we contribute in all the ways we do. Ben, Abra, and I would love to see you at the next Communing on June 16th , when in preparation for the Summer Solstice we will set our intentions and share more on our own cultivations of place together. Join us! Link to register HERE – the gathering is free, but seats are limited. Can’t wait to see you and grow together then.


WAYS TO SUPPORT CULTIVATING PLACE

Cultivating Place is a co-production of North State Public Radio, licensed to Chico State Enterprises. Cultivating Place is made possible in part listeners just like you through the support button at the top right-hand corner of every page at Cultivating Place.org


The CP team includes producer and engineer Matt Fidler, with weekly tech and web support from Angel Huracha, weekly communications support by Sheila Stern and Carley Bruckner, and regular hosting by Founder, Jennifer Jewell, as well as Abra Lee in Atlanta, Georgia, and Ben Futa in South Bend, Indiana. We’re based on the traditional and present homelands of the Mechoopda Indian Tribe of the Chico Rancheria. Original theme music is by Ma Muse..


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Or, make checks payable to: Cultivating Place Foundation EIN #33-1665277

PO Box 37

Durham, CA 95938


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