January 15th: Martin Luther King Jr. Day – A Time for thinking about how Umoja and Dr. King’s six principles of non-violence are related concepts. Also a time to ask each person what their individual dream is.

February: Valentines Day and a time to ask the question at the heart of race, gender, culture and politics: Do we focus on questions of inclusion because we all wish to avoid the real question, which are we actually willing to love each other?  

March:

• Indoor Planting and Planning Month
• The Vernal Equinox (which, interestingly enough, is a public holiday in Japan)

April:

• First Outdoor Planting
• First Outdoor Planting Ceremony

May: Group Gardening Activities

June:

• First Harvest Celebration
• Juneteenth
• Summer Solstice
• Second Outdoor Planting Celebration

July 4th: A Celebration of Freedom and Responsibility: If we are all neighbors, all our brothers’ keepers, all nodes in a huge interconnected ecosystem, then this is the perfect season to discuss if there can be freedom for ourselves in the absence of exercising responsibility for others.

August: Group Gardening Activities

September:

• Second Harvest Celebration
• Autumnal Equinox

October:

• Marigold Day – A Celebration for Remembering our Common Humanity (Just Before First Frost)
• Group Fall Activities and Winter Planning

November:

• All Fallow’s Day – A Celebration of Rest, Reconciliation, and Reconnection (A time for slowing down, contemplating old grievances, trying to lay them to rest, and reconnecting with people with whom we have lost touch or from whom we have been estranged.
• Compost and Winter Planting Month 

December:

• The Winter Solstice