Sunday's showers might have kept most of you inside, but some residents dug out their gardening tools to help harvest the Courthouse Garden.  The garden was constructed in the spring, fulfilling a dream of presiding U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken.  One of the goals of the garden was to help integrate former inmates back into the community.  So over the past spring and summer, they planted and are now harvesting produce...working side-by-side with University of Oregon students and members of the community. 

This two-acre lot next to the federal courthouse once stood abandoned. Now exactly 8 months after community members drove the first shovel into the ground, the fruits -- and vegetables -- of their labor are ready to harvest and eat.  "It's by far better than I expected," said U of O Adjunct Professor Lorri Nelson. She helped build the courthouse garden with her landscape architecture students.

But her expectations were surpassed not only by their work -- especially in the rain -- but by those they knelt next to, week after week. "To see the impact of university students, working with folks from the re-entry system. I think both groups of those have had a really powerful change in how they perceive each other."U of O student and garden coordinator Karyn Almeida says she has changed her perception, and she sees it in the parolees as well.

"When a crime is committed, I think it makes the parolees feel really good about themselves to come out here and help other people," she said.  Most notably the hungry, as all this produce goes to Food For Lane County. Parole Officer John Davis calls the last eight months "all positive."

"They feel they've taken a lot from the community, and it's time to start giving back," he said.  The parolees don't get paid or get college credit, but in the process of trying to find a job and reconnect with family, Nelson says something as simple as picking up a wheelbarrow can boost their self-worth, and hopefully in the long run, prevent them from committing future crimes. 

"It's important that we do everything we can to help people who are incarcerated, family's who have members who have been incarcerated and especially the parolees," Almeida said.  Right now, almost one acre is being harvested next to the Federal Courthouse. It's land owned by the city, which the university has a three-year lease on. But Nelson says they hope to stay longer.