🌱 Remarks to the Pima County Board of Supervisors

Delivered April 1, 2025
By Ricardo André Pereyda San Nicolás

Good morning,

Thank you for inviting me to your meeting, and for allowing me to address you regarding the mental health and well-being benefits of gardening.

First tho, this being April Fools Day, I need to tell you how I ended up in the garden. In 2003 a group of fools came together under the flag of our nation to take the fight to our enemies. Throughout their deployment this group grew from fools to men, to brothers. When it was all said and done, they went their separate ways. This one found himself in the garden, where the wild things are. Over time I discovered many of us went the same route. Our spirits know. It understands our needs.

Yesterday, I woke up happy, our Governor just proclaimed April ARIZONA GARDEN MONTH. First thing in the morning I get a call from my brothers wanting to hang out and catch up. We ended up talking about art, photography, love & marriage, some politics, and ended with a tour of our friend's garden. He was so proud of his peach tree that survived a tornado, he was excited about his new compost system, and identified several upcoming projects he was looking forward to, and then we broke it off. But not before telling each other we loved the other.

Last night I got a call from another member of our group. My friend, our Brother, who we had just talked to, suffered a catastrophic heart attack while in his garden. I was stunned. I still am. I’m heart broken. We all are.

I bring this up for a number of reasons. First and foremost, I want to tell you briefly about an amazing man, who meant a lot to me. But I also want to highlight how he died. Not the heart attack or what caused it—the fact that this man survived two combat tours to Iraq, retired from the Army, and went on to become a vital part of his hometown. He died in his garden, with someone he loves next to him. He didn’t kill himself, like so many others who never found their release.

Obviously, for me now, celebrating April as Garden Month has taken on a much more personal aspect. Thank you for highlighting an activity that is healthy, that brings people together, and produces joy, beautiful memories, and abundance.

Thank you also for letting an old soldier remember one of his brothers.

Rest Easy,
SFC Travis Watkins
🖤

Before the below photo was taken, I stood and read the above letter to the Pima County Board of Supervisors.

I spoke of Travis. I spoke of our garden brotherhood. I spoke of life and death and everything we grow to survive the in-between.

Arizona Garden Month isn’t just a proclamation. It’s a sanctuary. A place where old soldiers don’t have to go out alone.

🌱 #ArizonaGardenMonth #VeteranHealing #BurnSlowDoctrine

Art by Travis E. Watkins: 1979 - 2025.

He survived war. He found peace in the garden. He died with love nearby.

“Somewhere between sand and sky—we became more than soldiers. We became gardeners of memory.”

Rest Easy, to the Chairman of the Board