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Public gardens in Port Angeles and Sequim provide a place where people come together to grow food and community. green spaces In the summer of 2010, a group interested in food security, sustainability, gardening and community health began to meet and envision an organization that would empower people to grow their own food. A number of the people who had created the Vineyard Community Garden, situated on land donated by the Olympic Vineyard Church at the corner of Ahlvers Road and Peabody Street, were part of those talks. Together the two groups created Port Angeles Victory Gardens (PAVG), an umbrella organization with a mission to help people to grow food through access to community gardens, tools and education. The term “victory garden” was coined during the World War II when public food supply was limited, so people took to growing their own food, says Jill Zarzeczny, one of the organization’s founders. While PAVG was still in its beginning stages, an opportunity arose from the city of Port Angeles to convert a vacant city lot on Fifth Street into a community garden. “We jumped at the chance to create a garden in such a central location,” Jill says. By January 2011, volunteers were breaking ground, by March gardeners were being signing up for plots and by May the Fifth Street Community Garden hosted a grand opening. A long list of sponsors including Hartnagel Building Supply, North Olympic Land Trust, Airport Garden Center, The Home Depot and many others pitched in the effort, making them truly “community gardens.” “Neither garden would have come to be without the generous donation of land, time, resources, energy and expertise by many individuals, businesses and organizations,” Jill says. Two gardens, many hands The Vineyard Community Garden will enter its fourth growing season this year. A very large garden, it has 60 garden plots, eight tree plots, a central gathering area and several compost bins for converting garden waste into rich soil amendment. >> 6 MARCH 2012 | HEALTHY LIVING | PENINSULADAILYNEWS.COM TOP: Chloe Corey at the Vineyard Community Garden. MIDDLE LEFT: The front of Fifth Street in full bloom, August 2011. Plants were donated by Airport Garden Center. (photo by John Danks) BOTTOM LEFT: The Home Depot volunteers digging post holes for the main fence at the Fifth Street Garden, March 2011. (photo by John Danks) ABOVE: Climbing beans at Community Organic Gardens of Sequim. (photo by Pam Larsen)
“This garden has hosted families with young children who have had as much fun playing in the dirt as their parents have had growing food for the dinner table,” says Marilyn Harbough, another of PAVG’s founders. Beginning gardeners, uncomfortable with taking on plots alone, have partnered with others to share the experience and share the harvest, she says while adding that, “as a bonus to growing great vegetables, they have grown great friendships.” Marilyn says that children and teachers from BoBaggins Daycare and Learning Center have been digging, planting, laughing, playing and bringing smiles to the faces of fellow gardeners at Vineyard over the years. Although there are many gardeners who have been tending their plots since the garden’s inception in 2009, Marilyn says several others participated in a community garden project to learn gardening basics so they could then cultivate garden space at home. Since the beginning, some plots have been maintained for charitable donations, but in 2011, the Vineyard Garden had a larger-than-usual excess of available plots which were planted or seeded with donations from local garden centers and tended by Vineyard’s own gardeners, with help from community-service workers under the supervision of gardener Bob Shaffer. “Through his commitment and hard work, we were able to deliver hundreds of pounds of fresh, nutritional, organically grown produce to the Port Angeles Food Bank,” Marilyn says. Marilyn describes the Fifth Street gardeners as “a wonderful mix of people.” Among that mix last year, the garden’s first, were preschool children from the adjacent First Step Family Support Center and a group of nearby office workers who collectively gardened two plots during their lunch hours. She says one man framed his plots with an innovative moveable greenhouse cover, all the while offering his elderly mother a peaceful place to gather plentiful dandelion greens already growing in the garden. “A mother and her 10-year-old son actually grew corn to maturity during last summer’s cool weather; an experienced, creative gardener amazed everyone with ripe tomatoes in July; a local carpenter raised a healthy harvest and contributed his expertise to garden construction projects,” Marilyn says. One of Fifth Street’s senior gardeners was able to comfortably garden in raised beds designed and built by the architect of both of the community gardens, Hank Gibson. Plots were also set aside and tended to deliver produce to the Port Angeles Food Bank plus supervised community-service workers provided many hours of labor toward maintaining the garden. These gardens are green spaces, and not only provide plants that produce air and food, but also serve as inflow points for rainwater helping the city minimize its combined sewer overflow problem, says Port Angeles City Councilman Max Mania. “Allowing rain water direct access to soil is the best way to address our overflow issues,” he says. “I’d also argue that gardens are aesthetically much, much more pleasing than almost any other form of ‘development’ on any given plot of land, and thus add to the value of the homes and properties near them.” The gardens give the community a place to interact and provide a means for social service organizations to grow or harvest foods for local low-income residents. In its simplest form, Jill sees community gardens as a place where people come together and grow food — the most basic human need. “At a time when it is difficult to figure out exactly where our food comes from — let alone how its grown or what chemicals and gunk are used to grow it — it’s empowering to be able to grow it ourselves,” she says Although North Olympic <strong>Peninsula</strong> residents are lucky enough to have a thriving community of local farmers that offer a bounty of the best produce available, Jill says the ability to grow your own food is just one more way to make the area a healthy and self-sustaining place. Not to mention that growing your own organic produce for $35 a year is great for the pocketbook. Metaphorically, Jill says that people involved with PAVG are growing community. “As a recent transplant, I found it a bit difficult to meet people in Port Angeles. It’s amazing what connections can be made with hands in the dirt or in a discussion about the best way to use all of that kale!” she says. “Working with others to create a beautiful space makes you feel like part of something bigger.” Getting involved Both gardens are welcoming new gardeners. Plots are currently available for the 2012 growing season. Details and information can be found online at www.pavictorygardens.org or by calling Robin Gibson at 360-457-3744 for the Vineyard Community Garden; or John Danks at 360-809-3301 for the Fifth Street Community Garden. Each gardener is expected to give eight hours of volunteer work in communal areas around th garden per year. Gardeners receive water, access to tools and gardening classes once a month. — STORY BY JENNIFER VENEKLASEN COGS photo by Pam Larsen. SUSTAINABLE LIVING sequim gardens There are two Community Organic Gardens of Sequim (COGS). The Fir Street Garden is located in a field behind St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 525 N. Fifth Ave. The June Robinson Memorial Garden is located on the corner of Sunnyside Avenue and Spruce Street. Each garden features numerous in-ground 10-foot plots and 4-foot by 8-foot raised beds that community members can lease for $45 per year to grow organic vegetables, herbs, berries, fruits and flowers. The fee includes organic gardening classes, access to tools, water and garden supplies and a variety of seeds. Organic gardening practices must be used. Some community work hours to help keep community areas of both gardens well-tended are required. “After four years, the Fir Street Garden has become a wonderful and unique gardening community,” says organizer Liz Harper. Many of the gardeners have had their plots or raised beds for several years and feel a real sense of community with the garden. “Gardeners take excellent care of the community areas as well as their own plots,” Liz says. “They often share recipes and gardening stories, meet at the garden to work on their plots or have lunch and feel the garden has had a positive and sometimes profound effect on their lives.” At time of publication, there were three plots left at the Fir Street Garden and five plots and four raised beds at the June Robinson Memorial Garden. People interested in a plot or raised bed at the Fir Street Garden should phone Liz at 360-683-7698, and those who want a plot at the Spruce Street location should phone Anne Holgerson at 360-683-4139. Gardening classes Classes are free with community garden plots, but they’re also offered to people who want to grow their food at home for just $30. Classes will be taught by Pam Larsen, a COGS founder and experienced organic gardener. “It seems there’s ever more interest in healthy food and the surest and least expensive way to get what you want it is to grow it and to grow it without chemicals,” she says. Classes will be from 10 a.m. to noon for 10 consecutive Saturdays beginning March 10. People will get the basics for a successful first year garden, grown without chemicals. In addition participants will tour two organic gardens so they can see the different ways people approach growing organic food. Those interested in classes should phone Pam at 360-582-1106. PENINSULADAILYNEWS.COM | HEALTHY LIVING | MARCH 2012 7
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