About this Event
Grief shows up in our community and there's nowhere to put it down.
Tend & Mend is a free, monthly Grief Day on our farm in West Pullman. Once a month, we open the gates for three hours of low-pressure, hands-in-the-soil community time for adults carrying any kind of grief.
Not therapy. Not a support group. A place.
Who this is for
Anyone grieving anything. The loss of a loved one. A pregnancy or infant loss. A divorce. A friendship that quietly faded. A job, a career, a calling. A diagnosis or a change in your body. An estrangement. A version of yourself you can't get back to. Grief you can't quite name yet.
If it hurts, it counts.
What to expect
Soft arrival from 10:00. A brief welcome at 10:30. Then we put hands in the soil — weeding, planting, watering, harvesting, whatever the farm needs. At noon we eat together at one long table. We close at 12:45 with a quiet ritual. You take home a seed, a cutting, or a sprig of something that grew here.
You don't have to share. You don't have to introduce yourself. You can show up, do the work alongside other people, eat a bowl of soup, and leave. Or you can talk, if you want. Both are welcome.
October Session
Everyone went back.
Back to school. Back to work. Back to the routine. The world reset in September like it always does — and if you're grieving, that reset can feel like being left behind on purpose.
The bedroom that didn't need school supplies this year. The kid at pickup whose parent isn't the one waiting. The colleague who came back from summer and didn't come back. The version of you that used to have somewhere to be.
October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. The due date that came and went. The nursery that's still a guest room, or still boxed up. The people who stopped asking how you're doing because it's "been long enough." That grief doesn't run on a school calendar, and it doesn't reset just because the season did.
Tend & Mend doesn't fix any of that. It gives you a place to put your hands while the world keeps moving.
If it hurts, it counts.
If you're in crisis, call or text 988
What we protect
No photographs of participants. Ever. No solicited testimonials. What is shared here stays here. We don't market on the basis of anyone's grief.
Practical details
Free. No commitment. RSVP appreciated so we know how much soup to make, but drop-ins welcome.
11958 S. Union Avenue, Chicago, IL 60628
Bring closed-toe shoes you don't mind getting dirty, a water bottle, and yourself. We provide everything else.
Questions: 312-522-5159 · [email protected]
Tend & Mend is a program of We Sow We Grow ®. Growing Gardeners Globally. Stay Rooted.
Event venue & nearby stays
We Sow We Grow Project, South Union Avenue, Chicago, IL, USA, United States
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