Our Story

Fellow tree-hugger,

The Garden Body, founded by Lily Bonilla-Reyes and Deri Pierre-Louis, started out of frustration by the negligence experienced as residents of environmental-justice neighborhoods (East Boston and Hyde Park/Mattapan). Nourishing the land and ourselves became the foundation of our organization after mentorship from Judith Foster — of H.E.R.O. Nurturing Center, a holistic non-profit dedicated to supporting self-healing — wellness, mindfulness, and awareness, through programming to enrich one’s relationship with their environment by using nature as the conduit.

Learn more here about Judith Foster and H.E.R.O.

Through healing-nature-walks with Judith Foster, our perspectives and sensibilities got enlighten and embolden; we realized our shared frustrations and aspirations were crucial to cultivating truly-meaningful change within our communities — and so, we’ve made it our goal to nourish and nurture the land and ourselves.

The Garden Body aids residents in Boston’s neighborhoods grappling with environmental-issues — implementing/planting/maintaining permaculture-gardens, rain-gardens, pollinator-gardens, trees, and other forms of green-infrastructure. Additionally, we offer workshops, free raised-garden-beds, native seeds and seedlings through coordinated-events — make sure to check out the little-plant-libraries around Hyde Park/Mattapan. And visit our events-page for upcoming-events such as healing-nature-walks w/ Judith Foster, workshops, and more!

And lastly, like a tree in a forest, reciprocity is vital — through their fallen-leaves and sharing resources through their roots and mycorrhizal-network, the forest-ground becomes nourished, the tree-community is able to thrive and protect themselves through the act of supporting one-another.

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