Business Feature: SANO Nursery

by Georgiana Wells

Hawks circle and call out to each other as they hunt for lunch. The oaks, pecans, and palms provide a shady canopy and playground for baby squirrels to chase each other as well as a habitat for raccoons, possums, bats, birds, frogs, lizards, and feral cats. It is a peaceful, almost rural eight acres hidden inside Loop 410 on San Antonio's Inner West Side that is home to San Antonio Natives & Organics (SANO) Nursery. I am fortunate to call this place my home for the past seven years and am inspired by it on a daily basis.

When I moved to San Antonio from Florida twenty-two years ago, I faced the frustration of having plants die despite my best efforts, and I wanted to save others from that painful feeling. I learned that many plants from big box stores do not do well in San Antonio, so I now strive to provide resilient, seasonally appropriate plants that can grow in San Antonio's alkaline soil, heat, and frequent droughts. Nurturing plants should be a relief from stress, not a source of it. Providing appropriate plants helps to actualize gardening successes and benefits.

At SANO, we specialize in growing vegetable and herb plants, and we have participated in area farmers markets for about four years. When the Covid-19 pandemic shut down local markets, contactless delivery became our new way to connect with customers. Uncertainty in food supply, a desire to start a new hobby, and a need to eat healthier foods meant many people were gardening for the first time or restarting previously neglected gardens during the pandemic. Having a local source for organically grown nonGMO plants and advice on how and what to grow was important. Through Facebook and Instagram, people could message us an order, pay through Paypal, and have their garden kits delivered to their door.

Gardening gives us so much more than tomatoes, squash, or bell peppers. It helps our physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. It also helps us connect with

others. While digging in the soil or pulling weeds, a family or community can come together with a shared sense of accomplishment (Hutchins, 2020). I experienced this as a child, when my grandfather taught me how to garden. Some of my earliest memories include eating blackberries from the bushes and green onions straight out of the ground at my grandparents' house and helping my grandfather devise flags, crinkly foil, and netting to discourage squirrels from eating our bell peppers. While gardening, I bonded with my grandfather and cultivated mental and physical wellbeing. Through SANO Nursery, I offer these and other benefits to the San Antonio community.

Digging in the dirt improves physical health, increases hand strength, and provides a dose of Vitamin D.

It also offers mental health benefits (Hutchins, 2020). "Inhaling m.Vaccal, a healthy bacteria that lives in soil, can increase levels of serotonin and reduce anxiety" (Hutchins, 2020). As an adult, putting my hands in the soil and sharing this activity with others has increased my sense of wellbeing. Nothing brightens my day like getting a picture of someone's harvest or thriving garden that started as a seed I planted. Seeing these pictures of smiling and proud gardeners reminds me that SANO provides not only plants, but also wellbeing to our community. During the pandemic especially, growing plants grounded me during stressful times and led to many lasting friendships. Gardening was also beneficial for our community as they dealt with the difficulty of living during a pandemic.

Growing food feeds our primal needs in many ways. Homegrown and local food is not just tastier; it is also more nutritious. The longer food has to travel or stay on a shelf, the more nutritional value it loses (Lussier, 2018). Food that has to travel halfway around the world also consumes much more fossil fuels than the vegetables that came from right outside your door. Additionally, most commercially grown fruits and vegetables have been treated with pesticides and fertilizers that have long lasting negative environmental repercussions (Lussier, 2018). Growing your own food gives you control over what chemicals you are ingesting. Organic gardening practices in particular help put nutrients back into the soil, reduce waste, and conserve water, which is beneficial to your health today and the health of our planet in the future.

Feeding people has been a core part of who I am and what I do, so when I started SANO it became a natural continuation to focus on food plants . Deciding what to grow is an opportunity for experimentation, and I am always open to suggestions or requests.

Vegetable and herb varieties at the shop change with the seasons and are chosen for their ability to withstand the Central Texas climate. This has helped SANO partner with local businesses and farmers that need starter plants. Next, we will expand into more ornamental varieties, with the goal of offering native and pollinator friendly options.

We currently offer our products at local farmers markets or by delivery. If you would like to visit onsite, please make an appointment and adhere to appropriate safety protocols. Our feral cat, Mouser, loves visitors. If you visit in the evening, you can join me and listen to the owls and watch the fireflies. You can reach us on Instagram at SANO _ Nursery or on Facebook at SANO Nursery. Happy gardening and stay safe!

(210) 988-8290 Call The Landscape Cooperative