“We look at growing the grass, the pollinator garden. We also need to look at growing people,” says Kerri Lastner, Graystone community leader. “I think this is the problem with how we think about conservation. We shouldn’t have to reconnect with nature. We are always connected.”
For Kerri, serving as the stewardship partner for Graystone Community Open Space has been both a labor of love and a personal transformation. What began as an effort to protect land from development became a journey of co-creating a space for neighbors, deepening her connection to nature, and reimagining what conservation means.
Kerri has always loved gardening and being outside. As a mother of two, she homeschooled her children, weaving in camping trips and science experiments that sparked their lifelong passion for the natural world. Both are now grown and pursuing careers in science.
When she first partnered with NeighborSpace, Kerri thought of conservation as simply preventing development. Over time, her perspective has shifted. Planting and tending the pollinator garden, and seeing neighbors come together to weed, water, and care for it, helped her understand conservation as a relationship.
“I’ve been so changed by the pollinator garden,” she says. “This green space isn’t just for the humans; it’s for the insects that pollinate the plants, support the flowers, and support our food systems. It’s not just for us, it’s for them too.”
Kerri marvels at how a small patch of flowers can bring so much color and life, supporting countless pollinators. She plans to bring out a chair this fall to spend time observing and cataloging the species it attracts. Even her mother, who prefers more manicured, English-style gardens, now reminds her to “make sure you drive by the garden” when she’s out on errands.
From Threat to Community Treasure
Graystone is a residential neighborhood in Woodlawn, made up of single-family homes on rolling hills once known as Powhatan, after the local mill. Though the mill and much of the old town are gone, the history remains, including the story of the Powhatan Methodist Episcopal Church, which was rolled across the frozen Gwynns Falls on whiskey barrels in 1902.
In 2007, Graystone neighbors learned that a historic home on the hill off Gwynn Oak Avenue was up for rezoning after a family tragedy. They feared the property would be sold for development, or worse, turned into overflow parking for the pub across the street.
“We realized we needed a way to share our voice and have a say in the decisions being made,” recalls Kerri. “There wasn’t a way for us to speak out as a collective, so we needed to amplify our voices. It’s one thing if a parcel is divided and another house is built. A parking lot is another thing entirely.” When neighbors met and organized around the issue, there was concern that the rezoning could, as Kerri puts it, “change the feel and flavor of a community”.
Neighbors organized, forming the Graystone Community Association, Inc (GCA). With help from NeighborSpace, they successfully conserved the parcel. On June 29, 2009, Graystone Community Open Space, affectionately called “The Lot,” was officially acquired.
Even before the purchase was finalized, the community association secured a grant for a gateway sign, later unveiled at the official ribbon cutting on July 14, 2010.
Over the next ten years, neighbors turned The Lot into a lively gathering place. Movie nights, flea markets, games, and festivals became community traditions. At the first movie nights (showing The Incredible Mr. Limpet), Kerri’s husband, Joe, strung up a painter’s tarp between the apple trees, and neighbors watched on blankets under the stars.
Neighbors Helping Neighbors
For years, The Lot thrived through collective effort. Kerri’s kids and other neighborhood children mowed the grass, and neighbors organized events. Kerri remembers that when concerns arose about kids mowing the steep hillside, people donated plants and labor to transform it into a garden. “It was neighbors helping neighbors,” she says. “People came together and volunteered their time and resources for a solution.”
As time passed, use of The Lot slowed, but during COVID, Kerri once again stepped in. When quarantine kept people inside and isolated, Kerri had the idea to gather outdoors. “We set up our chairs in the grass and did social distancing,” she recalls. “We invited people to come and have a conversation on the lot. Just to be together. And slowly people started coming out, and slowly the care and interest in the property started coming back.”
Renewed energy followed. Neighbors began organizing events again, new volunteers stepped forward, and plans for the pollinator garden took root.
Passing the Torch
When Kerri attended a workshop years ago, one idea stuck with her: grassroots leadership roles in community spaces aren’t meant to be forever. “Someone at the workshop said that you step into these roles in your neighborhood so that you can turn it over to someone else,” says Kerri. “It’s not a lifetime role. No one can do it forever. You have to be very dedicated, and eventually, people will burn out. You need new energy, you need to give others an opportunity to lead with new ideas.”
For Kerri, that time has come. The time for new leadership, energy, and ideas. A new slate of officers was recently elected to the GCA board. She is proud of the president-elect and new leaders. For her part, Kerri is happy to play an advisory role. “It’s a good time to step back and get perspective on everything we’ve accomplished together. I’m very proud of what we’ve done as a community.”
Alonzo Sellers, who has already played a key role in tending the pollinator garden, will take over as stewardship partner. “I could really see Alonzo’s passion for the garden, and under his care, the plants have flourished,” Kerri says.
Still Growing
At the 2010 ribbon cutting for Graystone Community Open Space, Kerri invited neighbors to return on July 14, 2030, to celebrate again, twenty years later. With that date approaching, she looks forward to watching a new generation of leaders write the next chapters.
As she said in her original speech:
Graystone has only written the prologue. We realized that we needed to use our hands and our hearts to preserve the past. So with that in mind, I ask all of you to save the date. Let’s say July 14, 2030, same time, same place. By then, the parts will have been played out and a few chapters written.
In this next chapter, Kerri sees The Lot and other community open spaces as helping people, especially in urban areas, grow in “our relationships with nature”.
“We have literally shut our doors to nature,” she reflects. “We need to help people, help each other grow, like we help plants grow. We need to water people, nurture one another in our communities, and grow in our relationships with nature.
