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Welcome to The Giving Garden Podcast, where we explore how small acts of giving can blossom into lasting change. In each episode, we highlight the power of giving—whether it’s time, kindness, or resources—and how these acts can transform both lives and whole communities.
Join us as we explore the ripple effect of giving and its lasting impact.
There's something about October that always feels like an invitation to come home. The days begin to get a little shorter. The mornings are cooler. We reach for a sweater before we walk out the door. We start closing the windows a little earlier at night, and outside, nature is changing too.
Martina Halloran:In the garden, October is a time of transition. For months, the earth has been busy producing. There has been growth everywhere. Flowers blooming, vegetables ripening, bees moving from plant to plant, gardens overflowing with color and life. And then comes the harvest.
Martina Halloran:We gather what has grown. We take what we need. We share what we can, and eventually, the soil begins to rest. I love that rhythm because I think there is something deeply human about it. Summer asks us to go out into the world.
Martina Halloran:Fall seems to ask us to come closer, closer to home, closer to one another, closer to people who make up the everyday communities of our lives, our friends, our families, our neighbors. And that is what I wanna talk about today. Not community as a big idea, not community as something that requires an organization, a program, or an initiative, but the community that exists right outside our front door. Because as we move into this quieter season, I find myself thinking about how we care for those people and maybe just as importantly, how we allow them to care for us. During the summer, connection can almost feel effortless.
Martina Halloran:There are barbecues and vacations, long weekends, outdoor dinners, block parties, beaches, parks, concerts, kids running around outside. There's a spontaneity to summer. Someone says come over and you go. Someone says we're going to be outside, and suddenly six people are sitting around a table that was probably meant for four. I love those moments.
Martina Halloran:But fall has always felt different to me. Fall asks more of an intentional kind of connection. We move indoors. We gather around tables. We cook for one another.
Martina Halloran:We check-in. And I think there's something beautiful about that. Because community isn't only about celebrating together, it is also about nurturing one another. There is a difference between saying, let's go out and saying, come sit with me. Both matter, but they offer something different.
Martina Halloran:As I've gotten older, I think I've come to appreciate the second one even more. Come sit with me. Come eat with me. Tell me what's happening. How are you really doing?
Martina Halloran:What do you need? Those are such simple questions, but sometimes they're the beginning of everything. Growing up, I learned very early that sharing didn't necessarily have anything to do with how much you had. Some of the most generous people I've known did not have an abundance of anything. They simply understood that whatever was available could be stretched a little further.
Martina Halloran:There was always room for another person. Another chair could be pulled up. A plate could be divided. Something could be wrapped up and sent home with someone. In my family growing up, food was so often part of that language of care.
Martina Halloran:You didn't always ask someone whether they were hungry, you just fed them. And sometimes you fed them again after they told you they weren't hungry. Sharing a meal took on a special meeting that expressed itself quietly and with dignity. It was, I'm glad you're here. It was, I was thinking about you.
Martina Halloran:There is an intimacy in feeding someone. And when I think about the work we do through The Giving Garden, I think that is part of what has always stayed with me. Food is essential, of course, but the way we share food can communicate something beyond nourishment. It can communicate dignity. It can say, you matter enough for me to care whether you have what you need.
Martina Halloran:And I think we can bring that same spirit into our everyday relationships. When we talk about making a difference, we often imagine doing something big, and I understand that instinct. We think about volunteering, donating, joining an organization, supporting a cause, and those things are incredibly important. But I also think we sometimes overlook the opportunities that are sitting right beside us. Maybe there is someone in your family who has been quieter than usual.
Martina Halloran:Maybe a friend has been going through something and you keep thinking, I need to call them. Maybe you haven't seen an older neighbor in a few days. Maybe someone just had a baby. Maybe someone is caring for an elderly parent. Maybe someone lost a job.
Martina Halloran:You don't need a program to respond to those things. You need attention. And attention is one of the most meaningful forms of care we can give another person. I try to remind myself of this in my own life, because like everyone, I get busy. There are meetings, there are deadlines, there's travel.
Martina Halloran:There's always one more thing that needs to be finished. And if you're not careful, you can become so busy managing your life that you can stop actually living it with the people you love. I've caught myself doing that, thinking, I'll call them tomorrow. I'll check-in this weekend. We need to plan something soon.
Martina Halloran:And suddenly, weeks have passed. So I have learned that sometimes community has to go on the calendar. That may not sound very romantic, but it's true. If I wanna spend time with friends, I make the plan. If I wanna have dinner with family, I protect the time.
Martina Halloran:If I haven't heard from someone I care about, I try to send the text when I'm thinking about them instead of telling them myself I'll remember later. Because later has a way of becoming much later, and relationships need tending too. One of the greatest gifts of hosting The Giving Garden podcast has been the opportunity to sit across from people who think deeply about community. And while every guest comes from a different background and does very different work, I keep hearing variations of the same truth. People need people.
Martina Halloran:When I spoke with the team from the Mary Lyon Foundation, we talked about what it really means to support families. Sarah Burrell said something during that conversation that stayed with me. She talked about how no single organization can do everything alone. But when people and organization link arms, they can wrap support around families in meaningful ways. I love that image.
Martina Halloran:Wrapping support around someone, not swooping in, not assuming we know exactly what they need, simply standing beside them. And that idea doesn't only belong to organizations. We can do that for one another. A friend going through a difficult time may not need you to solve the problem. They may need you to just keep showing up.
Martina Halloran:A neighbor who lives alone may not need a grand gesture. They may need someone to knock on the door and say, I made too much soup. Would you like some? Sometimes the smallest gestures say the biggest thing. You are not invisible.
Martina Halloran:I see you. The idea of showing up has come up again and again in my conversations this year. When I sat down with Karen Taylor of WriteGirl, we talked about mentorship and what happens when a young person has someone who consistently believes in them. What struck me about that conversation was the importance of consistency. Mentorship isn't one inspirational conversation.
Martina Halloran:Community isn't one beautiful event. Friendship isn't one dinner. Family isn't one holiday gathering. These relationships are built through repetition. You call again.
Martina Halloran:You show up again. You listen again. You remember what someone told you the last time you spoke. You ask about how the doctor's appointment went. You remember their child's first day of school.
Martina Halloran:You keep showing up. That is how trust grows, and I think that is also how belonging grows. I've also been thinking about neighbors lately. Neighbor is such an interesting word because it describes proximity, but I think it can become something much more meaningful. There was a time when knowing your neighbors was simply part of everyday life.
Martina Halloran:You knew who lived next door. You knew whose child belonged to whom. You noticed when someone's car hadn't moved. You borrowed something and eventually returned it. You watched out for each other's homes.
Martina Halloran:You shared tomatoes from the garden. Yet somewhere along the way, many of us became more private. We drive into garages, packages appear at our doors, groceries can arrive without us speaking to another person. We can go through an entire day surrounded by people and have very little actual interaction. Technology has made many parts of life easier, but convenience and connection are not the same thing.
Martina Halloran:Sometimes connection requires inconvenience. It requires stopping. It requires looking up. It requires a conversation when you were planning to keep walking. I try to remember that.
Martina Halloran:Sometimes community is simply being the person who says hello first. It is learning someone's name. It is asking the person next door if they need anything before you head to the store. It is noticing. That word keeps coming back to me, notice.
Martina Halloran:Notice who is around you. Notice who hasn't been around. Notice who might need something. Notice who might have something to share with you too. Because community isn't charity, it's reciprocity.
Martina Halloran:We take turns carrying one another. Some of my favorite memories involve a table. Not necessarily a beautiful table, not a perfectly styled table. Although, I do love creating a beautiful tablescape myself. Regardless, there is something that happens when we sit down together.
Martina Halloran:We slow down and share a meal and good conversation. Someone remembers something from twenty years ago, and everyone argues about what actually happened. And ultimately, we laugh harder than we have in a long time. Those moments matter to me, and I have learned that I don't wanna wait for special occasions to create them. We don't need a holiday to invite someone over.
Martina Halloran:We don't need everything to be perfect. You don't have to cook an elaborate meal. Sometimes takeout around a table is enough. Sometimes coffee is enough. Sometimes sitting on the couch for an hour is enough.
Martina Halloran:What matters is the invitation. That is community in its simplest form. There's another side of this that I think we don't talk about enough, receiving. Some of us are very comfortable being the person who helps. We organize.
Martina Halloran:We host. We check-in. We bring the food. We solve the problem, we take care of everyone. And then someone asks, what can I do for you?
Martina Halloran:And suddenly, we don't know what to say. I have certainly been guilty of that. But I've learned that refusing to ever receive care doesn't actually strengthen community. It limits it because community requires reciprocity. Sometimes I bring the meal.
Martina Halloran:Sometimes you bring the meal. Sometimes I listen. Sometimes I need you to listen. Sometimes I am the strong one. Sometimes I am tired, and that has to be okay.
Martina Halloran:Nature understands this. The garden does not produce endlessly. There's a season of abundance and a season of rest. The soil gives, and then the soil needs to be replenished. We understand that when we look at the natural world.
Martina Halloran:We don't stand over a garden in January demanding tomatoes. We understand that rest is part of the cycle, yet somehow we expect ourselves to produce endlessly. We expect ourselves to always be available, always capable, always giving. But maybe October offers us a different lesson. Rest is not the opposite of contribution.
Martina Halloran:Rest makes continued contribution possible. When I think about harvest, I don't only think about what comes out of the ground. I think about everything we've been cultivating throughout the year. Relationships have harvest too. The friend you kept calling, the neighbor you started talking to, the young person you have encouraged, those relationships become part of our harvest.
Martina Halloran:And the beautiful thing about that kind of abundance is that it grows when we share it. If I have a strong community around me, I have more capacity to extend care outward. If my neighbor knows she can call me, perhaps she becomes more likely to answer when someone else calls her. Care travels, generosity travels, kindness travels. It moves from person to person, and that is how something very small can become something much larger.
Martina Halloran:I think our culture sometimes teaches us to measure abundance by accumulation. How much do we have? How much have we accomplished? How much more can we acquire? But the garden teaches a different version.
Martina Halloran:The purpose of a harvest isn't simply to collect. It's to nourish. It's to preserve. It's to share. It's to take what has grown and allow it to stay in life beyond the moment it was picked.
Martina Halloran:What if we thought about our own abundance that way? Maybe your abundance is time. Maybe it's knowledge. Maybe you are an incredible cook. Maybe you are the person who makes everyone laugh.
Martina Halloran:Maybe you have a garden overflowing with zucchini, and you're desperately looking for people to take some. Whatever it is, we all have something we can share. And when we stop measuring generosity only in dollars, we begin to see how many opportunities we have to care for one another every single day. So this October, I want to challenge myself and maybe invite you to join me in doing something very simple. Look around, not at the whole world for a moment, just around you.
Martina Halloran:Who are your people? Who are the friends who have become family? Who are the family members you want to know more deeply? Who are the neighbors whose names you know and whose names don't you know yet? Who haven't you spoken to in too long?
Martina Halloran:Who always checks on you? Who might need you to check on them? Then do something. Call them. Invite them.
Martina Halloran:Make the soup. Bring the bread. Sit on the porch. Meet for coffee. Take a walk.
Martina Halloran:Share something from your garden. Ask the question. Listen to the answer. It doesn't have to become another obligation. In fact, I hope it doesn't.
Martina Halloran:I hope it becomes something that restores you too. Because the best communities don't only ask for things, they give something back. They remind us that we belong somewhere. As the gardens begin to quiet and the soil starts its long season of rest, I think there is something worth noticing. Nothing in nature thrives entirely on its own.
Martina Halloran:Roots intertwine beneath the soil. Pollinators move between flowers. Rain becomes nourishment. Leaves fall and become part of the earth again. Everything participates.
Martina Halloran:Everything gives. Everything receives. Maybe we aren't so different. We need seasons of growth. We need seasons of celebration.
Martina Halloran:We need seasons of rest. And through all of them, we need one another, Friends, family, neighbors, the people who know our stories, the people who bring something to our table, and the people for whom we make a little more room. This fall, I hope we remember that gathering isn't only about being together. It's about caring for one another while we are together. It's noticing who needs another helping, who needs a place to sit, who needs to talk, who needs to be heard, and sometimes who simply needs to know that someone thought to invite them.
Martina Halloran:That is the kind of community I wanna keep cultivating, not only through The Giving Garden, in my own life, around my own table, with my friends, my family, and my neighbors. Because perhaps the greatest harvest of all isn't what we gather for ourselves, It's what we have enough of to share. Until next time, take care of yourself, take care of one another, and keep making room at the table. Thank you for listening to The Giving Garden podcast. I hope you're leaving inspired because even the smallest act can spark positive change.
Martina Halloran:If you've enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share. The Giving Garden Podcast is produced by Edwin Bautista and edited by Steven West. A special thanks to Helen Palisi for her guidance and generosity. The Giving Garden Podcast is brought to you by Doctor. Hauschka Skincare USA, pioneers in natural skincare for over fifty years in home to the Giving Garden loyalty program.
Martina Halloran:Visit drhauschka.com to learn more.