Our Story

It didn't happen overnight.

About thirteen and a half years ago, I started to realize things were not going to be what they used to be. I kept pushing and tried to stay in my lane, but that lane stopped fitting. I was a new mom, right around forty, in a career I thought I'd be in for good. Then the rules kept changing, and adapting is hard when they do.

My new normal.

There was no guidance and no big aha moment. It was "this is what's left of me, so what can I do?" I could still do some things, just not the way I used to. I called it my new normal, and I kept trying different things and adjusting as I went.

The garden.

Gardening started as therapy. Then it became "wait, there's something to this," and I started researching, because that's what I do. I wanted to show people with disabilities or limits how to still garden, even in small spaces. That's where Mockingbird Urban Gardens came from. Then my health postponed the physical part, and homeschooling showed up out of nowhere. A lot of unplanned things happened at once, and I adapted again.

Why a mockingbird.

I used to call my son my little mockingbird. He followed me around the garden asking "is this how you do it?" and copying everything I did, in the sweetest way. Mockingbirds are small but mighty. I also noticed birds kept building nests in the trees I planted, so I must have been doing something right. These birds are strong and smart, and that's how the name and the birds came to be.

What I'd tell you.

I'd love to say I sat down, wrote a plan and followed it. That's not how it went. Plans are just plans. You can change them, and your situation can change them for you. Sometimes the new direction isn't what you pictured, and it lands you somewhere better, even if it takes longer. Don't let the plan minimize you, because the outcome is often much bigger than you.

Cherrell, Mockingbird Collective