Sonoma’s garden of earthly delights

Ann Scarff, resident of Celestina Garden Apartments, remembers the first time she stepped foot on the property.

“It was 1991 and I had just started as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer,” she said. “I was assigned to a young boy I needed to go pick up at his home.”

As Scarff arrived at the address she was given, down the dirt road off the west side of Highway 12 near Agua Caliente and surrounded by empty fields, she realized the address had multiple homes on it. When she arrived, she remembers being “greeted” by a woman whose reputation preceded her: Juanita Musson.

“Juanita” as everyone in town called her was a larger-than-life personality who was usually surrounded by a menagerie of animals; from donkeys and parrots to cats and goats. Juanita was known for her abrasive yet lovable demeanor, signature floral-print muumuus, and the restaurants she started over the years around the Bay Area, usually called Juanita’s Galley. The restaurants were notorious for their large portion sizes and their rough-and-tumble nature.

By the time Scarff met her, Juanita had closed down her last restaurant, but was a well-known Sonoma personality. Scarff remembers Juanita shouting at her when she pulled up, “Who are you looking for?”

Scarff gave the name of the boy and Juanita pointed in the direction of the boy’s home, nestled among several other residences.

From that point on, Scarff remembers keeping an eye out for Juanita and her fleet of ever-evolving animals any time she passed the property.

Little did Ann Scarff know that nearly 30 years later, she would be moving into that very same piece of land; only it would have a very different look this time.

The Celestina Garden Apartments were completed in February 2020. And just as residents were finalizing their applications and plans to move in, the COVID-19 closures started sweeping the nation and the county.

The complex, which is home to 37 one-bedroom and 3 two-bedroom apartments, 40 in total, was quickly filled as the tenants were chosen from more than 1,000 applicants. The senior residents range in age from 62 to 80 years old.

The sister property, Fetters Apartments, which is home to 60 units, was completed in 2017, just as the Sonoma Complex Fires were hitting the Valley.

The two affordable housing complexes are owned and were developed by MidPen Housing. The site also consists of Vailletti Plaza, which has four retail storefronts, a playground, athletic field, and most recently, the Celestina garden.

It is named after the matriarch of the Vailetti family who is now in her 90s, Celestina Vailetti, who visited the garden for a socially-distanced virtual grand opening this May. The garden is home to 21 raised beds, a storage shed, compost area and a bench book-ended by two stone pillars, which are remnants of the original entryway of the former Fetters Hot Springs Hotel that opened in 1908.

As the story goes, Marco Vailetti, son of Celestina, originally wanted to put in a culinary school and garden on the property, but when he realized the opportunity it offered for the affordable housing that Sonoma Valley so desperately needed, he switched directions.

“When he came to visit in May, he walked in and was just in tears,” recalls Scarff. “He said, ‘this is so beautiful to see. It’s the culinary school I always wanted.’”

When the residents of Celestina Garden Apartments moved in in March, the COVID-19 closures had just begun. Thankfully the garden was ready, the soil was in, and the residents welcomed the work.

Several residents jumped to the task of planting and others quickly followed suit, just in time for spring planting.

“The garden is more soothing than my shrink,” said Serverio “Sal” Quattrocchi. “And cheaper.”

Quattrocchi spent years as a carpenter, and his expertise shows in the garden. He fashioned wood around his bed, and affixed bags from grocery store lemons and limes to support the weight of heavier fruit like watermelons and spaghetti squash. This allows him to smartly maximize space in the bed, growing things like lettuce and tomatoes along the middle portion, while the heavier produce hangs vertically on the sides.

Seeing the garden in person, you’d think it had been there for many seasons. Sunflowers tower more than 10 feet above the raised beds, while corn reaches almost as high. Residents have placed dinner plate-sized round dishes of water on the edges of most beds as bird baths to encourage natural bug control. Some beds have lattice work to support vining varietals of peas and tomatoes, while others use cages or strings to wrangle the weight of the growing bounty.

The vegetables vary, from patty-pan squash and eggplants in their infancy, to banana peppers and Swiss chard ready for picking, to zucchini maturing under its giant leaves. Tomatoes abound. Basil, parsley, oregano and cilantro are nestled among the larger plants. Lantern-like tomatillos, a sight to behold. Wildflowers add splashes of vibrant color.

And, while each resident adds their own unique style and flair to the different beds, one thing is consistent: the care and love poured into the space by all. Gardeners flock to the garden in the evenings, when the heat of the summer days is waning. They water their plants together. They admire new blooms and veggies springing to life. They share gardening tips as they go.

During these past few months, they have gotten to know each other. Many wonder where they would be if not for this garden during these strange times of isolation, when most seniors are finding themselves so alone. They feel the garden is as much a blessing as living in Celestina Garden Apartments.

“I feel like I won the lottery,” says Jerry Verducci, who used to work in vegetable production and agriculture. Verducci is the only resident who has professional experience in gardening. His expertise is appreciated by the others. He has helped set up alyssum in all the beds to keep the spider-mites away, cosmos to help control the aphids. He grows veggie starts from seed and shares them with the other residents.

Not all the residents of the 40 units are able to, or wish to, garden, but its positive benefits can be felt in the entire complex. The community feel has extended into the apartments as they leave baskets of produce around common areas for all to share. When social distancing requirements loosen up, they plan on having classes and events with the children and families from the neighboring Fetters Apartments.

“It’s about getting out of the apartment and having socialization with the people that are here,” says Joe Miccio, a retired Hilton San Francisco bartender of 35 years. “It’s a little therapy. We’re all in this together, as they say. It’s fun to get out, make sure your plants are doing good. Something else to worry about other than what’s going on in the world.”

The sentiment of the thread of Juanita Musson’s story persists. As Juanita grew older in the early 2000s, Ann Scarff remembers the beauty of watching as the community took care of her. Scarff remembers thinking what a wonderful thing that was.

The Celestina Garden is a story of coming together during these times of isolation, maintaining social connections and having a sense of purpose. Simple things that so many of us took for granted only a few short months ago.

A photo of Juanita hangs in the communal library at the Celestina Garden Apartments. She stands in the field with two donkeys. In the background, the silhouette of the same mountains the garden overlooks today, with Juanita wearing her signature muumuu and a look of sassy contentedness on her face.