KarunaNews Story

For three years, Rachel Nafis has grown sunflowers, dahlias and corncockles outside the homes of eight neighbors who have donated their yards to Psalter Farm Flowers, a loose collective of cutting gardens in one of San Diego’s poorest neighborhood. "All of my gardens are in places where people cannot care for their yards the way they would like," said Nafis, 36, who grew up in western Michigan and worked as an ER nurse for 13 years. It was planting a row of dahlia tubers in their vegetable garden that inspired her to turn her backyard into a cutting garden and use her neighbors' yards as satellite farms. "The model I have created is very relational-based," she said. "Every house is different based on my relationships with my neighbors." Nafis has made such an impact on the neighborhood, said Kristen Kellogg, a nurse practitioner who donated her yard. "Yes, she's a florist. But it's about a lot more than just flowers."