Muslim Women’s Coalition Networking Brunch features gardening expert Linda Wolk

Photo by Cherrie Hanson

Linda Wolk is in her third year teaching Garden Club for Muslim Women’s Coalition and because of its popularity will be the guest speaker for the May 30 Networking Brunch.

Muslim Women’s Coalition’s Garden Club coordinator Linda Wolk of Milwaukee has deep roots. Her background in gardening began in infancy as the daughter of owners of a florist shop. From a Polish Catholic family, her ties with MWC go back decades to one of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee’s early interfaith dinners. Wolk’s study of languages, faiths and business has been practically lifelong.

Wolk now shares her energy, talents and diverse interests with others through her volunteer work for MWC. She teaches popular classes to adults and youth on how to tend a garden and participates in various MWC initiatives, earning the organization’s 2023 Volunteer of the Year Award.

The educator and gardener will share spring gardening tips at MWC’s May Networking Brunch in her talk: Soil Savvy: Preparing your garden for a successful planting season. The brunch will take place from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m., Friday, May 30, at the Islamic Resource Center, 5235 S. 27th St., Greenfield. 

Brunch from Taqwa’s Bakery and Restaurant will be served. The fee is $15. Register here and pay at the door (cash or credit only).

Wisconsin Muslim Journal recently interviewed the avid learner, gardener and teacher about how she cultivates her own growth as well as her gardeners. Here are the highlights:

How did you get interested in gardening?

My parents owned a flower shop and a couple of greenhouses for 65 years. I was nearly born there. 

Photos courtesy of Linda Wolk

Don’s Flower Shop and Garden Center, Wolk’s family business at 1314 W. Wilbur Ave., opened in Dec 1950 and closed in 2016.  

My father started a flower shop when he was 19 years old, around 1950. He was only open for two years when he got sent to Korea. His parents took care of things while he was gone.

My mother lived across the alley from them. So, the ladies in the neighborhood would say, “Oh, we know Donnie. He’s such a nice young man. You should write to him. She did and the rest is history. When he got back from the Korean War, he went right back to running the flower shop. 

Did you work in the flower shop?

I helped. I am their only child. Like I tell the ladies in the garden club, my parents dragged me to every park, every garden. My entire life has been spent in parks, gardens, arboretums, nature preserves, forests—because they loved it, that’s what our family did.

A five year old Wolk helps her father build the first greenhouse for the garden center. 

Sometimes as a teenager, I’d think, “God, why am I here?” But now that I’m older, I appreciate all the things I learned from them. 

My father had a collection of 300 to 400 biology and horticultural books, not the how-to grow plants type but the scientific kind. That’s another reason I know a lot about plants. I don’t think I read all 400, but I did read a lot of them.

Did the flower shop close?

In 2015, my mother had a stroke. My dad and I were helping her find healthcare and rehab. My dad was already 70. Dad and I knew it would be very difficult for us to run the flower shop so we made the difficult decision to close it. That was 2016. Sixty-six years. It was a long run.

How did your childhood experiences in the flower shop impact your life?

I always kept those interests and they led me to others. When I took trips through my undergrad program or later when my husband and I took trips, I always checked out the gardens. 

What really interested me was the flower shops. Where I was in the world, I’d walk into them and start talking with the owners about how they did things. It was a cool connection, having the flower business in common. We’d talk about how we made brides’ bouquets, handling customers, funeral flowers.

Early on, I realized how international the flower business is. All our flowers at the shop came from a bunch of different countries.

I decided to do a bachelor of arts in business administration at Alverno and focus on international business. I figured that is where the world is going and whatever you do these days is international.

While there, I did several short-term study abroad programs—to China, Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil. I did a Chinese language immersion in China for a semester, as well as classes at Alverno.

I went to the Great Mosque of Xi’an. We got to spend the whole day there and I’m not even Muslim! It was such a big honor.

What is your connection to Milwaukee’s Muslim Community?

Our flower shop was located on Milwaukee’s South Side, not far from the Islamic Society of Milwaukee’s center and mosque. When I was a little girl, we took a trip with our grade school and visited there.

As an adult, I was involved a lot at my Catholic church. After 9/11, there was animosity in the U.S. from many towards Muslims. The ISM had an interfaith dinner and invited the interfaith community. Our pastor friend, my husband and I went. It was the first time for any of us to interact personally with Muslims. 

Photo by Kamal Moon

Wolk receiving Volunteer of the Year award for her initiatives including youth and adult Garden Club programming for Muslim Women’s Coalition in 2023.

When a Muslim-Catholic Women’s Coalition formed, I joined and wow! One month we’d focus on a Christian or Catholic topic and the next month a Muslim topic, back and forth. I’ve known Janan (Najeeb, founder of MWC) and Inshirah Farhoud (an early MWC board member) for 25 years. 

When that group folded, the Muslim women created their own Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition. Since I had gotten to know them, I joined them. I got my library card from the IRC (Islamic Resource Center), joined the MWC Book Club and supported as many things as I possibly could over the years.

Tell us about your work with MWC’s garden clubs.

In 2022, when MWC was looking for someone to start the Youth Garden Club, I volunteered. We started a garden club for adults this year. I like to make them fun. In both, they learn about planting, about how to plant and what can happen and how to fix problems.

I also include biology, a little botany, ecology, conservation, environmentalism. I want to give them an appreciation that comes from knowing things like trees give us oxygen and we couldn’t live without them.

What will you share at the networking brunch?

Since it is the end of May and gardening season has started, we will focus on how to get started with the right soil. When you go to gardening centers these days there may be 20 different kinds of soil.

I often say, “All soil is not created equal.” How do you choose the right soil for what you want to do? How do you know what soil you have and what amendments it needs? How can you make it better without adding a whole lot of chemicals?