Our Community Garden Cat, by Chris Bigot

Noir, the community garden cat

This is the story of a little black cat named Noir who decided to make his home in one of San Francisco’s community gardens. His official address was a house across the street, but he started visiting the garden more and more often, sleeping in shady spots, making new friends, and hanging out with members as they tended their plots. When his owner moved away, Noir came across the street, entered through the gate one last time, and moved in for good.

Noir Finds Himself the Perfect Home

A quiet oasis in a busy San Francisco neighborhood, Howard Langton Community Garden covers about an acre of land, is surrounded by a very tall fence, and requires a key to get in. Members come and go, caring for raised beds, perennials, fruit trees, and shrubs. There is also a chicken coop and a fish pond in the back of the property.

Noir Selects His Person

Although Noir made many friends in the garden, he seemed to be particularly attached to me. And to be honest, I felt the same way about him. He somehow “knew” whenever I arrived on my bike and was right there waiting for me to open the gate. How he did this is still a mystery to me ─ one of a cat’s many superpowers that never fail to amaze us humans. After much petting and purring, he became my little buddy, following me everywhere, keeping me company, and quietly supervising my work.

Independent and sociable, curious and loving, Noir could be a scrappy little guy when he needed to be. One of our members was a dog walker, and sometimes she would bring a group of dogs with her when she visited the garden. At first we feared for Noir’s safety, but we needn’t have worried. The dogs would try to go after him and the next thing we knew, they were running away yelping and whimpering. Noir had delivered a message, and the dogs learned pretty quickly not to mess with him. He also took his care-taking duties very seriously. Unlike other city gardens, there wasn't a rat in sight.

The Cat Distribution System

Cats come into our lives for a reason, and Noir was a perfect example of that. He magically chose us, and our members all became very attached to him. We adopted him as our own, making sure he was fed, letting him “help us” in the garden, taking him to the vet from time to time to have him checked out and get his shots. We kept his supply of cat food in our shed and we set up a kennel on top of the chicken coop with a tarp to protect him from the weather. We even welcomed him into our afternoon meditation ─ he seemed to love to meditate, going over to the picnic table where everyone was gathered, lying flat on his back or sitting Zen-like as he meditated along with the rest of the group.

Noir Retires to a New Home

We never knew how old Noir was when he first started visiting us, but he’d been at the garden for 8-9 years when Covid shut everything down and he started to show signs of age. When the garden was closed, he didn’t have his friends to hang out with, and we didn’t want to leave him there alone. Luckily, one of our members was able to take him home with her and he has been living there ever since. He became an indoor cat, which we thought might be a problem, but he adapted well. Whenever I see her and ask how Noir is doing, she says, “He’s doing just fine. We’re growing old gracefully together.”