From Outdoor Space to Healing Ground: The Buckeye Recovery Garden Story

Recovery Needs More Than Four Walls

Here's something I've been thinking about: when you're working on your recovery, you're showing up every day, doing the hard inner work. Building new habits. And sometimes, what you really need is to step outside and get your hands in some dirt.

The folks at Buckeye Recovery in Huntington Beach had this outdoor space. Tons of potential. But it needed some love. We had this vision… what if this could become a place where people could learn about gardening, about growing their own food, about connecting with the earth while they're healing?

Because recovery isn't just about stopping the old stuff. It's about starting new things. Learning new skills. Finding new ways to connect with yourself, with other people, with something as simple and profound as a seed growing into a plant.

So, the question became: what could this space become?

Enter Ravi Sohoni - Community Builder, Teacher, Father, Coach and Friend

Ravi is my friend, my pickleball partner, and my brother-in-law. We've known each other since we were 12 years old.

Ravi's been teaching in Huntington Beach for over 30 years . But that doesn't even begin to cover who he is in this community. He's a coach. He's a father. He's the kind of friend people call when they need help. He's woven into the fabric of Huntington Beach in a way that only happens when someone shows up, day after day, year after year, for their community.

Here's something else about Ravi and I, we've both always had organic gardens at home. In fact, Ravi runs a gardening club for his students and also participates in two other community gardens in Huntington. So, when this opportunity came up to work together on the Buckeye Recovery project, it felt natural. Like all these pieces of our lives were coming together for something meaningful.

Big Neighborhood runs on this simple idea: community health through community building. Ravi lives that every single day through his teaching, his coaching, and his presence in people's lives.

When we got the chance to create this garden together, it wasn't just a project. It was two friends who've been growing things their whole lives, coming together to build a space where other people could discover what we already know: that there's something healing about getting your hands in the soil and connecting to your food.

Building Something Productive

We designed and built these raised garden beds with a few things in mind:

• They had to be accessible - easy for anyone to work with, the kind of thing that invites you to come back every day.
• They had to be solid - built to last, because this space matters and deserves quality.
• They had to work for what Ravi's teaching - practical spaces for learning about food and growing things.
• And they had to feel intentional - every detail thought through, creating a space that feels like possibility.

We finished the installation on January 25th, 2026, but honestly? That was just the beginning.

What This Really Means

Walk outside at Buckeye Recovery now, and you see these raised beds ready to be filled with life. You see a space that tells people: you matter. Your growth matters. What you're building here matters.

And yeah, growing vegetables is cool. But, this garden is about so much more.

It is about learning new skills that build confidence. Creating routine and responsibility through daily care. Connecting with nature as part of healing. Building community through shared work and shared harvests. Nurturing something outside yourself while you're working on what's inside.

Every seed that gets planted is part of a process. Every harvest is proof that growth is real. Every hour in the soil is time invested in a different future.

Why This Matters

I've been building community spaces for a while now, here's what I've learned: when we invest in creating environments that support people, cool things happen. When we don't? We miss out on so much.

People in recovery deserve spaces that remind them every day that growth is real, that beauty comes from hard work, that they're absolutely worth investing in.

Without intentional spaces like this, we're missing chances for hands-on healing that goes beyond talk therapy, skill-building that creates real confidence and purpose, community connection through working together, and those daily reminders that transformation isn't just talk. It’s something tangible; it's real.

The Bigger Picture

This garden at Buckeye Recovery, it's one garden. But it stands for something bigger.

It's our belief that everyone deserves spaces that support their growth. That healing doesn't just happen in therapy rooms… it can happen in soil and sunshine too. That community health starts with creating the actual physical spaces where people can do the work of getting better.

Ravi brings his heart to this. Decades of teaching. Coaching. Being present for people. And now, teaching gardening and healthy eating skills to folks in recovery. I brought the design and build. Together, we created something that matters.

The people at Buckeye are doing the daily work now: planting, nurturing, harvesting. And those raised beds are holding all of it. The hope. The effort. The transformation.

Ravi will be there, doing what he does; teaching, encouraging, showing people that they can grow something healthy and beautiful. That's who he's always been.

That's what community health through community building actually looks like.

A very special thanks to the people that helped Ravi and I get this done;

Hela Sohoni (Ravi’s mommy), Kelly Barrios, Evan Brown, Paul Morrow, Kris Zoller,

and as always, my pal Oliver. We appreciate you guys. See you on the next one!

Let's Talk

Whether you're running a recovery center, leading a community organization, working at a school, or just part of a neighborhood that wants to do something meaningful - We want to hear from you.

Here's how we can connect:

Got a project you're thinking about? Head over to bigneighborhood.com shoot us a message and let's start a conversation about how we can support what you're trying to do.

Want to hear more stories like this one? Subscribe to the Big Neighborhood Roadcast. We dig into projects that build community health through community building.

Big Neighborhood | Creating spaces where communities grow. Ways to support this work:

• Listen to the Big Neighborhood Roadcast
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This is Joe Barrios, reminding you that every great community starts with good neighbors. Let's be good neighbors and build something together. Welcome to the Neighborhood!!