TOUR: Meaningful Happens Here

"Meaningful Happens Here" is the slogan that describes a wonderful horticultural community for handicapped adults. Located in Brookshire, Texas, just west of Houston, Brookwood (www.brookwoodcommunity.org ) offers a meaningful way of life for mentally and physically challenged adults. The 500-acre village consists of residential group homes where 110 resident adults (known as Brookwood "citizens") are functionally disabled, and live at Brookwood 24/7. Another 80-plus adults participate in a day program.

Brookwood is a non-profit business and completely self-sustained in its funding. While horticulture is one of the main enterprises, Brookwood also features other successful creative ventures, such as a gift and garden retail center, a café, a wedding chapel, statuary, stonecast and ceramic products.
 

Varied enterprises. Brookwood has 47 greenhouses that see constant use. The nursery and garden centers are open year-round, and these greenhouses produce the main source of green products for each of the stores. It makes for a large part of the business, and has grown steadily year after year.

There are four main "shops" in which the citizens work: Propagating, Pot Filling, Planting and Moving. Each resident works in two shops every day to provide variety and increased skills. In the morning they may be pot filling, and in the afternoon they switch to propagating—depending on their schedule and the needs of the overall production. Every resident has a job and becomes very proficient at it, whether simple or difficult.

Diane McDonald has been teaching in the horticulture work program for 12 years and has worked with many of the long-time citizens over the years.

"We grow a lot more than we used to," McDonald said. "We have different plants and new varieties each season. We also grow special requests for home builders."

Brookwood Beginnings Yvonne Tuttle Streit began Brookwood as a way for her daughter to work in a productive way after finishing school. She knew that jobs would be limited for disabled adults. Streit studied residential facilities in the United States and Europe taking a special interest in a community in Bethel, Germany. Bethel’s residents, adults with special needs, were receiving training and executing contract work for companies throughout the country. She decided to use this model to build Brookwood. She began, as she says, with a lot of prayer. She would go to neighbor’s homes and ask for cuttings from plants such as jasmine vines, and have her day students plant them up in a very small greenhouse. She would then sell them at bazaars and festivals around town. This began a 25-year commitment to creating an environment where adults with disabilities can live and work. She eventually turned this “enterprise” into a destination place out in the country just west of Houston. It started as a farm with greenhouses, and has turned into an upscale gift and garden center with a café and an art gallery. There are also beautiful gardens that the café and shop overlook. Brookwood has two other smaller retail stores, in Houston and Spring, Texas. Their only advertising is word-of-mouth.

One of Diane's team members is Gerald, who has been with Brookwood for about 13 years. His favorite job is loading the racks of pots filled with growing medium, and moving them to another greenhouse. It gives him satisfaction that a finished product is making its way to the next phase.

Liz Burton is another teacher who has been in the horticulture work program for four years, and during that short time she has seen more greenhouses added for space. She works with citizens who put individual tubes into each pot for irrigation. Her teams love the excitement of poinsettia time. It is such a big project, and each phase offers something fun to work on.

"They celebrate when the last plug is planted because thousands are planted for the season," Burton said. "When the plants start to show their red color they are filled with anticipation for when they are ready to ship."

One of her longtime citizens, Debbie, has been there 17 years. She is the cheerleader of the group, and even though she is older, she encourages others to work and do a good job. She is happy when the younger citizens are eager to work alongside her.

Brookwood citizens also visit the organization's retail stores and see their products being sold. They are interested to see what sells and are proud to show the customers the items that they made or were a part of growing. When customers eat lunch they can look at examples of the plants in the gardens, and after lunch they can stroll through the nursery area and choose from the huge variety of plants grown in the greenhouses. Many Texas natives are offered, along with beautiful ornamental blooming plants and lush tropicals.
 

The retail world. Indeed, Brookwood's retail outlets and other ventures give its citizens the opportunity to shine and show off their handiwork. Visitors can make their way through a gift shop and art gallery, café and the production greenhouses.

Gift Shop and Art Gallery. This 10,000 square-foot shopping area displays an assortment of gift items that are carefully and lovingly made by the citizens. The gift shop also stocks home and garden décor, gourmet food items, a jewelry and handbag boutique and custom-made hats and western wear. Recently an art gallery was dedicated to exhibit local artists from all around Texas. All proceeds go to support the Brookwood community.

Café. The Brookwood Café has been part of operations for 10 years. In its friendly and relaxing atmosphere, citizens take lunch orders and provide excellent service by using a round table system. The first chair that is served has a ribbon attached to it, and the plates are delivered clockwise around the table. The citizens' favorite thing to do for the guests is to show them the lavish dessert cart.

Wedding Chapel. Brookwood has a beautiful non-denominational chapel where ceremonies can be held, or services can be conducted on a bridge crossing a creek, flanked by a waterfall. Receptions are often held in Brookwood's large Welcome Center.

Tours. Visitors can also tour Brookwood's grounds. The work program areas—such as the ceramics shop and the greenhouses—allow visitors to see the working and learning environments of the citizens. These tours help educate visitors about the meaningful work and commitment of the citizens and the Brookwood employees.
 

Plans for the future. Each year Brookwood's management team reviews all production schedules to assess each product sold, and how they affect the work program. In the horticulture department, some plants are reviewed, such as annuals, which have had fewer sales because people are opting to spend their money on plants that last or that come back year after year. Other new products are brought into the growing schedule, such as combo hanging baskets. Some of the large, traditional crops such as geraniums and poinsettias continue to remain strong due to the quality and size of the plants from Brookwood.

The whole team is proud of what Brookwood produces. Each item reflects the love and care that goes into the community by the citizens as well as the employees.
 

Texas-based garden writer Cynthie Thomas can be reached at cynthie@yrmgroup.com.