Eric Garton on tending Wellfield's gardens

In this episode of "Eric Garton on tending Wellfield's gardens," we plunge into the vibrant world of Wellfield Botanic Gardens, a sanctuary of nature in the center of Elkhart, Indiana. A dream meticulously nurtured with dedication and passion, the gardens now stand as a community heart, uniting people in their shared love for nature. Today, we dive into this fascinating journey of how ordinary spaces were transformed into extraordinary landscapes.

Join Marshall King, Eric Garton, and Kevin Deary as they navigate the lush legacy of Wellfield Botanic Gardens, a testament to what a community vision can achieve. Unfurl the story of Eric Garton, the visionary who champions the gardens, sparking not only growth of plants but that of a community. The combined leadership and expertise of these individuals have paved Wellfield's trajectory, cultivating a deeper bond between people and their natural surroundings.

https://wellfieldgardens.org/

00:00:24: Introduction of Eric Garton

00:01:10: Discussion about Wellfield Botanic Gardens

00:03:19: About the vibrancy in Elkhart County

00:03:37: Eric talks about the garden programs

00:06:13: Staff commitment and evolution as an organization

00:09:33: Personal life and family

00:12:07: Attraction to the mission of Wellfield

00:15:57: About the new building at Wellfield

00:18:19: Partnership with Community Foundation of Elkhart County

00:19:14: Eric as a husband and father

00:19:36: Advice for New CEOs of Nonprofits

00:20:31: Introduction to the property and gardens

00:26:31: Discussion of future plans and the importance of beauty

00:28:32: Overview of programs offered year-round

00:29:44: Information on free admission days

00:30:09: Reflections on hope and community

This show is a production of the Community Foundation of Elkhart County. It is powered by equipment from Sweetwater and recorded in The Riverbend building in Elkhart's River District. Editing is done by the award-winning communication students at Goshen College, home of one of the best college radio stations in the nation. Listen to Globe Radio at 91.1 FM. Learn more about the Community Foundation of Elkhart County at inspiringgood.org You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Music is provided by Sensational Sounds. Thanks for listening. We hope you are inspired and inspire good and your community.

Transcript

Marshall King:
Today, our guest is Eric Garton, the Robert and Peggy Weed Executive Director at Wellfield Botanic Gardens. Formerly trained as a biologist, Eric has been a botanic garden professional for over 23 years, beginning in Arizona before moving to southern California and then relocating to Elkhart in 2015. For his exciting new role at Wellfield, Eric is passionate about connecting people to their environment. Eric and his wife Jamie, along with their son, live, work and play in Elkhart and are active, engaged stewards in their community. His goal is the same as Wellfield's, to grow community. 

Marshall King:
Welcome, Eric. 

Eric Garton:
Happy to be here. Thanks for having me. 

Kevin Deary:
Eric, so good to have you here with us today. 

Eric Garton:
It's my pleasure. 

Kevin Deary:
When I think of Wellfield Gardens, I think of a community gift that has been bestowed upon us. The work, the love, the energy that has gone into Wellfield Botanic Gardens is. It is simply a majestic place, and. 

Eric Garton:
It'S the gift that continues to give. And those who made that original investment, the Elkhart Rotary Club, back in 2005, they raised a quarter of a million dollars for nothing more than the master plan for that space. And over that time, millions of private dollars have gone into growing wealth field to what it is today. We have another big jump in that master plan going on right now. And if you've driven by any time in the last year, you've seen that it is an exciting time at Wellfield, and it truly is a community project. 

Kevin Deary:
When I travel around Indiana and the Midwest and people here, Elkhart, many times they will talk about the botanic gardens and they will talk about the beauty that they were surprised how many tourists have come to visit annually. 

Eric Garton:
We're getting close to about 100,000 total visitors each year, and that includes some right here in the city of Elkhart. Elkhart County. We get a pretty broad array of folks from southwest Michigan, St. Joe county. We recently did some statistical data crunching and realized that of our more than 2000 member households, about a fifth of those 20% are actually in St. 

Eric Garton:
Joe county. And then we have a good lion's share here in Elkhart county. But that's southwestern Michigan and further south into Indiana, we have visitors from literally all 50 states and other parts of the world that visit each year. We're very proud of that. And it's still a surprise to a lot of people when they come to Elkhart. 

Eric Garton:
And I think it's known traditionally here across the Rust Belt in the midwest. I don't think people expect to see it, but it's all, all part of what is making Elkhart, the whole city of Elkhart, especially this downtown corridor, it's making it really exciting, and we're proud to be a part of that. 

Kevin Deary:
We talk a lot about vibrancy in Elkhart county. Many of us came together as leaders over the last decade to talk about vibrancy, but when it comes to beauty, well, feel botanical gardens is amazing. Can you talk a little bit about the programs that go on there? 

Eric Garton:
Oh, well, I'll tell you, starting out right away, I'll tell you that the mantra, you know, in addition to all of our mission, vision and values and all that good stuff, the mantra is world class and homegrown. So taking the best of what we see in other botanic gardens and other museum and zoos and other places around the country that are awesome experiences for people, and trying to make sure that we are creating that same type of quality experience, not just in the programs themselves, but in the physical structure and amenities that we have. And the fact that you can have most of that stuff made right here in Elkhart and Elkhart county and, you know, within a half an hour or 45 minutes of here is really incredible. I'm just always so impressed by the ability of our staff and our volunteers, especially, you know, we're a fairly small staff, only 20 people in total and about 13 full time equivalents, but we have hundreds of volunteers that give literally thousands of hours. I think in 2023, we had over 6500 recorded hours. 

Eric Garton:
And when you consider the size of our budget, that's literally an additional 20% that you could add to that in total budget, which is really more. It's almost immeasurable when you consider not just the work that gets done by volunteers in the garden, but the fact that those people are active community members and sharing the story of Wellfield, and that's really what we want to be. The beauty comes and goes, and it's always there in some shape or form throughout the year. I think my favorite is fall. I'm a big believer in fall. 

Eric Garton:
I love the temperature starting to cool down a little bit, and you see the color in the garden. And also it just gets us looking forward to holiday lights in winter, too. 

Kevin Deary:
You know, my wife is one of your volunteers, and she's an environmental scientist and master gardener. And when it's time to mow for her to go, she loves to mow at Wellfield. She loves to pick weeds, but she will. I asked her one day, well, do you need some help? She said, no, we. 

Kevin Deary:
I'm a lawn artist. 

Eric Garton:
A lawn artist. 

Kevin Deary:
You stay home and you just cut our grass at house. 

Eric Garton:
There you go. 

Kevin Deary:
Let me be the lawn artist. 

Eric Garton:
That's awesome. That's awesome. 

Kevin Deary:
She takes such great pride in making sure everything looks perfect. 

Eric Garton:
It takes that attention to detail. And I say, that's, again, why we have such a great team, because we have some who are more focused on the outward, the public perception of Wellfield and the image. And then you have those from the inside that make it work really well. And I'm very grateful to have a staff that does both of those things very well. And even more importantly, they're willing to continue to learn and they do it better every year and every week, every month that we meet. 

Eric Garton:
We just continue to evolve as an organization and try to make wealthield better to further our mission in the community. 

Kevin Deary:
It takes a great visionary leader to be able to see all that, and yet to make all those wheels turn with donors and with volunteers and with staff. And you and I are both transplants. Neither one of us are from Elkhart. You came from California and I came from New England, and yet we make this our home. So what was your path? 

Eric Garton:
How did you know? The interesting thing for me growing up, I grew up in rural Oregon. And I always knew from really a young age that I wanted to be a biologist. I loved wildlife. I loved getting outside. 

Eric Garton:
I was outside most of the year even, you know, most of the year was raining on the west side of Oregon where I grew up. I did well in school. I went to the University of Idaho. I got my degree in wildlife resources, which, you know, it was all per the schedule, right? So that you'd go do this. 

Eric Garton:
And then my first real job out of college was as a wildlife biologist for the US Forest Service. And as much as I realized that I loved running around the woods looking for squirrels and owls, and that's what I was doing. That's not a joke. It sounds like lead into a joke, but it's not. So I was in Arizona. 

Eric Garton:
I was out calling for mexican spotted owls and trying to get responses back so we could locate and triangulate nest locations and find young. And I was also working with the Mount Graham red squirrel, which is this endangered species that lives up around 10,000ft in elevation. As much as I love doing that, it wasn't until one of the first times I had an interaction with the public where we were re nesting a goshawk chick that had fallen out of its nest. And so we had worked with a wildlife rehabilitator to actually get that chick back and healthy. And then the challenge was getting it back up in its nest. 

Eric Garton:
But when I had some campers from the mountain that actually came and were so excited by that, that little animal, I mean, it was, it's about the size of a chicken. Even though we say it was a goshawk chick, it was a small chicken size. And that was when I knew that my love for connecting people to their environment was really born. And I didn't work much longer for the forest service. I started in botanic gardens, and here we are 20 plus years later. 

Eric Garton:
And I love gardens. They're just a great way to connect with people, and they're also a beautiful place. And I'm not much of a gardener myself. I love being able to go to a space that is taken care of by so many people. And, yeah, most people would probably be surprised what my yard looks like at home. 

Eric Garton:
I'm a very lazy gardener. I like plants that can take care of themselves. I'm one of those that it's got to be hardy. It's got to be hardy to survive in the garden yard. 

Kevin Deary:
Well, coming from the rain-soaked west coast of Oregon, you would have to. 

Eric Garton:
Be hardy for sure. 

Kevin Deary:
How did you find and how did you know Elkhart was the place for you? 

Eric Garton:
I think the time when my son was still in elementary school and we were, had yet to have him. He was diagnosed with autism when we moved to Indiana, and it is a place that he has thrived. And I'm always cautious with how I say this, but the pace of life is different here than it was in Phoenix, Arizona, where he was born. And it's different than in Los Angeles county, where he spent some more years. But for us, I think just the, the opportunity for us to do a lot of weekend travel, and we love being tourists in our own area. 

Eric Garton:
We've been here almost nine years, and yet we are still exploring every time we get a chance. So when I am not working or sleeping, we're out doing something, and that's good for our entire family. And there's so much within a couple hours here of elkhart. But I'll tell you, we live in elkhart. We chose to buy a home right here. 

Eric Garton:
I can walk to work. I'm 3 miles from the garden. We're 3 miles from downtown. It is just an easy place for us to live and thrive. It's been a lot of fun for us. 

Eric Garton:
So as much time as we spent going around, out and around the midwest, we love recentering here. 

Marshall King:
So, eric, wait, wait. You just said I live really close to work. It's 3 miles. I can walk to work. That is not a normal midwestern thing to say. 

Eric Garton:
That. And we have. My wife and I especially, have become big advocates for walkability in our town. And we will. Oftentimes we'll pick a point. 

Eric Garton:
I tend to have a route, and we might walk ten to 15 miles in a day. So, you know, we've walked the bridges. I've heard of that here in Elkhart, where you walk over the Jackson street or the Johnson street bridge, and then you head down to county Road 17. It's just a little loop around. And, you know, you. 

Eric Garton:
The time that got us, though, that people really pointed out was that they said, we think we saw you walking to South Bend. And we did. We walked to south Bend. We had backpacks. We actually stayed overnight downtown. 

Eric Garton:
We do a lot of little staycations. It's amazing what you can do. And it was the middle of summer. It was warm, but it's a nice workout. So if you see that crazy family that moved here from California walking around, it's probably a. 

Eric Garton:
That's probably us. 

Kevin Deary:
Well, this crazy New Englander. 3 miles is my Uber zone. 

Eric Garton:
Yeah, there you go. 

Kevin Deary:
So, that's an Uber thing for me. But since you have been here and you first came into Elkhart and you viewed what Wellfield was, what you came into, tell me what your vision was and what attracted you to this mission. 

Eric Garton:
I will tell you, you know, from what I saw when I got here and then understanding what Wellfield started out as, it had already come a long way, you know, from its founding in 2005 by the Rotary Club to them breaking ground in 2007, you know, the. The number of small spaces that were put in, you know, pales in comparison to where we're at now. But it was the faithfulness to the master plan and the fiscal responsibility of the board and wealth field that really brought me here. And, of course, it was. It was the community's commitment to allowing for well field's growth. 

Eric Garton:
So the community, seeing the importance of Wellfield as our mission implies, you know, we're. We've got four real parts to Wellfield. We're about celebrating the inseparable relationship of water to life. We inspire creativity and lifelong learning. We foster stewardship for the environment. 

Eric Garton:
But my favorite part is the last phrase, and that's growing community. So, those who invested such amazing philanthropy into Wellfield over the years understood the value of it as a true quality of place located right here near downtown Elkhart. And for us, that's the. I guess that's the point of pride for me. I serve at the pleasure of our board. 

Eric Garton:
And, you know, as you have for so many years, Kevin, you know, how, what a privilege that is. But truly to understand that it's the community that built and grows well field every day, that's the part that I'm most proud of. 

Kevin Deary:
You know, both of us have come from different sides of the coast, but what has kept us in Elkhart are the people. 

Eric Garton:
Yeah. 

Kevin Deary:
Of course, their definition of community was something that I didn't know or feel. Not so much on the east coast, but coming here and living in Elkhart county, the people are very special commodity, for sure. And you can't take them with you. 

Eric Garton:
No. 

Kevin Deary:
So we stay and so proud to be here. 

Eric Garton:
I truly have the best team right now that I have ever worked with in all of my working years. We have some great longevity. We've got some newer staff, but the reason that they stay and the reason they want to be at Welfield is because of the people. We're not making anyone rich work in there, and it is hard work, but it is exciting. 

Marshall King:
Eric, as part of that, Joel Duthie, who has been your board chair when we spoke with him for an annual report story. We'll talk a little bit more about that exciting development here in a little bit. But Joel told us that the gardens really represent all aspects of people's lives. Tell us a little bit about how you see people marking milestones at this glorious garden here on the north side of. 

Eric Garton:
Sure. As you said, I think that's important. And I mentioned the four parts of the mission. You know, when you think about the education, you think about the beauty and the inspiration that it provides, and then it's that gathering space. So for us to have the opportunity to put some of the finishing touches on the master plan with this incredible new project we have going on right now, those are the steps that have allowed us to just continue to do our mission even better in the community. 

Eric Garton:
It's not private investment of nearly $14 million going into this to make it. It's the fact that that's allowing us to do so much more and serve the community that has allowed us to get to where we are. 

Kevin Deary:
I couldn't help but notice when I drive by welfare botanical, that beautiful building that's going up. Could you talk about that? 

Eric Garton:
Yeah. In 2021, we received a call through Pete McCown. That was Marley Rydson, who wanted to make a very generous lead gift on the visitor center in honor and in memory of his wife, Laura, who passed away in August of that year. And Marley, I spoke with him fairly regularly over the course of being in Florida. I spoke with him very regularly and loved to provide him the updates with this, but that's what really kicked this off, and it inspired so many others to jump in. 

Eric Garton:
And we are now about seven months from completion of this project. It includes a new 12,000 square foot visitor center. It's got a pavilion that will be able to seat five to 800 people for concerts and weddings and receptions and other community celebrations. We needed more parking. You know that, Kevin, you've been. 

Eric Garton:
We needed a lot more parking. We are going to get that. And we also relocated the visitors cottage that our tallies. You know, we're approaching a million people that had actually gone through that cottage over the years, and it was always meant to move. I mean, here we are, we're in the rv and manufactured home capital of the world, so why would it not be a manufactured home? 

Eric Garton:
It was always scheduled to move, and it has moved. It is still serving as our temporary visitors cottage for admissions. But there is a gorgeous new building with some event space that will allow us to further our fiscal sustainability as well as create that gathering place for the community. So it's all right back to the mission. We really belabored the design of this building based on some of the limitations that we had. 

Eric Garton:
You know, while we were a year round garden and we were open year round, we didn't have indoor space that people could use. And now we'll have indoor space that's not only very functional, but it will be, without a doubt the best view of any space that you can be in, in Elkhart. 

Kevin Deary:
And you mentioned Pete McCown. That's Dr. Pete McCown, who is the president and CEO of the Community foundation of Elkhart county, who made that connection with you, with the rich and the family, and then they made that happen. Community Foundation's proud to be a partner with very grateful, and we're so impressed with your leadership and with the beauty that we see there and the amount of community people that come and feel at home there. 

Eric Garton:
I love that and I love being a part of other growth. I mean, to see other organizations that are growing because of maybe something that they did at Wellfield, if we're able to hold one of their fundraisers there, or we're able to hold a staff retreat and other things, that if we can provide that space, further our mission and make all of Elkhart a better place, that's what really just hits me right in my heart. That's the key piece. 

Kevin Deary:
You know, when I think of you, Eric, as we become friends over the years, I think of you first as a husband and a father. What a tremendous individual you are as a human being. Thank you. The fact that you, it's not surprising that you would be out and about every other moment. You're not working to be with your family, which is something very special. 

Kevin Deary:
But I do have a question about when you go back and you look at if you could address new CEO's who are coming in of nonprofits, what advice would you give to them? 

Eric Garton:
Be honest and be yourself is first and foremost. That's no secret. That's not a secret sauce thing. That is something that everybody should be doing. I truly believe in treating people the way that they want to be treated. 

Eric Garton:
Everybody wants to be treated well. Go with the platinum rule. Treat them the way that they want to be treated. Treat them fairly. And remember your most important resource. 

Eric Garton:
Those are your people. Whether they're your staff or your volunteers or the families of your staff at home, make sure you're thinking about a holistic approach to the organization and the structure that you have at your institution. 

Kevin Deary:
It's the same way you talk about your flowers and your trees and your plants. 

Eric Garton:
Yep. 

Kevin Deary:
It's amazing, the connection. 

Eric Garton:
Yeah. And it's, it's really all about the people. We all, and the relationships are key. 

Marshall King:
So, Eric, this property is the old city Wellfield that was repurposed in this lovely way thanks to the vision of some of those in the Elkhart Rotary Club. But it's continued to grow. And obviously, and you talked about the new visitor center and the new building and all this, but how many gardens are you up to? I mean, if somebody's cut, not been to Wellfield, what are they going to find when they show up? And you mentioned fall is a great time of year, but if somebody's coming in May for the first time, what. 

Eric Garton:
Are they going to experience in May? You'd expect to see maybe the lingerings of the tulips this year. It's been a little early all around for tulips because we've had such a mild winter and a favorable spring weather. But you can expect to see tulips. You can expect to see the trees becoming more, much more green. 

Eric Garton:
Flowering plants are starting to get excited. The redbud trees, it's really starting to come alive. That's what I love about spring. And of course, at Wellfield, we're 36 acres, and half of those are water. We're just now getting all of our water features up to speed after winterization and to hear the water. 

Eric Garton:
We have fountains, we have waterfalls, we have all sorts of things that just really bring it back to that importance of water. And as you mentioned, Marshall, this has been the city's well field since the 1850s. And we are just very happy to have that partnership with the city. That's a great public private partnership. I'm so proud to have taken the maintenance off of the city. 

Eric Garton:
And so we're, again, privately funded. Everything we do, we receive no tax funding for that whatsoever. And actually save the residents of Elkhart, my family being one of those, we save the taxpayers money. And so when you're supporting Wellfield through a membership or a visit with admission, you know, know that you're actually doing more than just for your visit and for Wellfield, you're actually doing more for the community. 

Kevin Deary:
And what is a membership cost per. 

Eric Garton:
Yeah, we have. We have different levels of membership, but an individual membership is $45, and you can get a family membership for 75. The best part of that is that it's not only membership, but well field. It gets you free admission through the reciprocal admission program of the American Horticulture Society at over 350 gardens around the country. And there are literally a dozen gardens within 2 hours drive of Elkhart that you can get free admission. 

Eric Garton:
You can go to Meyer Garden up in Grand Rapids. You can go to any of the Chicago area Gardens. Fernwood is right up the road. There are beautiful gardens, and they're all different, you know, gardens, we really play well together. It's a fun organization all around the country, because you just have people that are doing well for their own area. 

Eric Garton:
And so I always recommend use your membership at other gardens. But that reciprocal is a great value. 

Marshall King:
So, which. How many gardens are you up to now? 

Eric Garton:
We're at about 20 different gardens and some different spaces that we're creating. We're always evolving. A garden is never complete. 

Marshall King:
Do you. And the newest one, or the one that is at the point of near. 

Eric Garton:
Completion, actually, this last year, and we're going to be dedicating it this summer, is the peace garden. But we actually will be putting this new visitor center into operation later this year. But the peace garden is a beautiful. It's a beautiful space. That was Amish. 

Eric Garton:
Shah and Amy have just done an amazing job in being partners with us on that, and we love it. It's so meaningful, too. That's the peace garden. When you come experience it, you'll see why it's called a peace garden. 

Marshall King:
I know it's akin to asking a favorite something else that. But do you have a favorite spot in the garden? 

Eric Garton:
I love the Japanese, what we call our island garden. It's a japanese garden. It has a lot of japanese elements designed by a very renowned japanese garden designer named Sarafumi Uchiyama. And I like it because it's beautiful, but also because it's in the center of the garden. And that was a gift from Don and Yuradi Krabel. 

Eric Garton:
And it is just. It's a real jewel in the crown of what is. And, of course, all the gardens are beautiful, but I like that one because you can see all the others from it. When you're up at the pavilion and you have just that little bit of elevation, you see the water all around you 360 degrees. It's just a gorgeous spot. 

Kevin Deary:
How many weddings and proposals, wedding proposals. 

Eric Garton:
Do you think have happened? You know, we have had hundreds of scheduled weddings, and we've had quite a few unscheduled weddings. In fact, the holiday lights. This last year, I think I witnessed actually three or four different, I think, sort of in the spur of the moment planned, but we didn't know about them proposals, and it was really cool. Everyone claps and cheers. 

Eric Garton:
And so it. It's a place to celebrate so many things, and just the proposal, the wedding, the reception, the anniversary parties, the children's, you know, it's just getting together for so many different reasons. We love it. 

Kevin Deary:
Once you enter the gates and you start walking around, it's bigger than you think people think. They're always amazing. How many acres are there? 

Eric Garton:
Yeah, 36 acres and all in. When you walk all around, you can get a good mile plus in with all the trails. So the main loop trail around is about a half mile. I ran into one of our very regular members yesterday on his way out, and he said that in the last. Last week, he's actually put in over 25 miles. 

Eric Garton:
So he comes and does a certain number of laps each day and just keeps track of that. And so, yeah, some people who are doing it for health, and it's just a great thing. Mental health, physical health, it's all there. 

Kevin Deary:
So after this beautiful entrance building is built and this campaign is over, what's next for us? 

Eric Garton:
We will be going into a strategic planning process at the end of this year to really make sure that we are maximizing and engaging those beautiful new spaces that we're creating. We have just started growing, and I love the fact that gardens, there's so many of those puns, you know, we're going to continue to grow for decades to come. And I just can't wait to see some of those next generations starting to look at this space. 

Kevin Deary:
The work of a CEO is never done. And you're one of the best. 

Marshall King:
Eric, talk a little bit about why beauty matters, how it grows. Community. You can point to the things that you gotta fix in the community. 

Eric Garton:
Sure. 

Marshall King:
Yet there's tremendous value in beautiful places. 

Eric Garton:
Yeah. 

Marshall King:
So how do you, how do you. 

Eric Garton:
There's so much. There's so much research out there that just shows that when you're in a beautiful environment, you, you feel better. And it makes people healthier. I mean, we have volunteers who, I swear, you look at them and you find out how old they are, and it just makes me want to go out and do more gardening, because that's the, the type of healthy lifestyle that a lot of people have. Beautiful spaces help relax your mind. 

Eric Garton:
They help for thinking, they help recenter you. And when you're able to throw in the benefit of being able to do that as a family or as a staff group, or even, you know, if you get married there, you have all your friends around. That's the type of thing that just makes for a healthy life. And I'm not the right kind of scientist to tell you all the different chemicals that it makes in your head, but I do know that when I'm outside, I feel better. 

Marshall King:
Is there anything you want to tout or promote or point to out in front of us? 

Eric Garton:
Sure. You know something about programs year round. I mean, we're all about a variety of programs. And when you consider all the educational classes that we offer, sustainable gardening. We have a plant sale that we do in May. 

Eric Garton:
We have a summer concert series that goes middle of June and into August. We have an awesome event called Taste of the Gardens. That was the fourth Sunday in August. We've got some cool family events, Garden of villains that we partner with, the hall of Heroes Museum in October. And of course, our holiday lights, the winter Wonderland holiday lights. 

Eric Garton:
This year, about 1.5 million lights. This event has grown every year. We're very intentional about that, making it a bigger and brighter experience every single year, thanks to the Welch packaging and all the sponsors that help us out to make sure that we're growing it and creating just an amazing experience for our guests. Last year, we had over 25,000 guests in the month of December, and we can't wait to share our new building with them this year. 

Marshall King:
That's so exciting. Yeah. We will point out too, that this is usually a paid, paid garden. 

Eric Garton:
Yeah. 

Marshall King:
But on Tuesdays, that's correct. Thanks in part to some funding from the community foundation. 

Eric Garton:
That's right. That's right. 

Marshall King:
It's free. 

Eric Garton:
That's every Tuesday, April through December, we are free and open to Elkhart county residents. Just bring a, just bring an id to, shows your address on it and we'll mark you in. Come in and enjoy it. And even during the winter, when we're only open on the weekends, Sundays are still free to Elkhart county residents January through March. Thanks to the community foundation. 

Marshall King:
Great. One last question. What gives you hope? 

Eric Garton:
People give me hope as much as we see and hear in the news all the stressful things that occupy a lot of our lives every day. When you get to know someone, when you're out in the garden and you sit down and you start asking people about their lives and their history and why they choose to be at Wellfield Botanic gardens, that's when you start to get your hope. For me, it's getting to know people and understanding them and not being afraid of the differences, but embracing and getting to know what makes us different. I think that will. It's really a key for me and my family to try to make the world a better place just one little, just one little bit at a time. 

Kevin Deary:
Great. 

Marshall King:
Thanks so much for joining us today. 

Eric Garton:
Thank you. It's my pleasure. 

Marshall King:
The show is a production of the Community foundation of Elkhart county. It's powered by equipment from Sweetwater and recorded at the Viaggio studios at we impact in Elkhart's river district, where there's some construction going on outside. Today, editing is done by the award winning communication students at Goshen College, home of one of the best college radio stations in the nation. Listen to Globe radio at 91.1 FM. Learn more about the Community foundation of Elkhart County@inspiringgood.org. 

Marshall King:
Dot. You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Music is provided by sound sensations. Thanks for listening. We hope you're inspired and inspire good in your community.