It is difficult to enter into the Evergreen Community Gardens and not see the massive amounts of beauty and potential, the space being inarguably special. With optimal sunlight, years of semi-conscious soil management and glorious forest views, it is understandable why many people covet this space; and yet I can’t help but also see the missed-potential. Without any unifying voice, the space is often left out of sight, and out of mind, forced to fend for itself.
To be clear, I don’t believe that land’s value is based on its potential, and I can even see the merit to allowing a communal space to be managed communally but with no clear communication plan put in place, many of the plots have turned to pernicious weed beds. By putting some ambitious and creative minds together, that garden space could be responsibly utilized for so much growth and learning.
Having witnessed many such minds showing interest in giving the community garden a make-over, I volunteered myself to try and be a catalyst for change by filling the community garden organizer position. With all due modesty, I thought that I could potentially unify some folks and get that space moving in a healthy direction, but it was not meant to be. For reasons outside of my scope, the college was unable to support an organizer for the space and acquiesced that it just wasn’t in the cards. Due to the strange and unprecedented times we live in, we have had to bolster up our abilities to be patient and adaptable, and I see so much value in that.
I don’t intend to make this sound like it is being written by someone dejected and defeated, because that truly isn’t the case. I try to remain conscious and aware, and so I respect that perhaps the gardens are fine right where they are. It would be nice to have someone unifying the collective voices, but in the end, the folks that garden in there are happy and more or less content with the way things are. And in the end, we were able to adapt to the situation and still will get out hands on a good chunk of space to support our goals.
So after sifting through it all, here is the plan as it stands:
With roughly 900sqft of garden space (roughly 4 plots in a line), interested students and I will clean up the beds and attempt to grow some crops while learning about the nuances of crop planning, crop management, soil care, community action, and anything else that the students and I show interest in. With a bounty of fruits and vegetables, we will attempt to spread the love throughout the various food and ag related programs of Evergreen, supplying fresh produce to students and for student learning. Whether the food is used in tastings, cooking workshops, or given away, the intention is for the this student grown food to be eaten by students. I have always found it quite poetic that we grow to learn and then we eat what we grow.
GRuB (Garden Raised Bounty).
Grub is a 501(c)3 non-profit garden space in Olympia, WA that has been cultivating food, community and education since 2001. I have always appreciated the work that Grub has spearheaded in our community and I believe that there is a lot that we can learn and emulate from the path, trials and tribulations that they have had to confront over the last two decades (and beyond). Please check out their website here and learn about the awesome work that they are carrying out.
While I don’t think that the community gardens should follow GRuB’s exact path, I think that the space has a unique setting that could be used to foster similar goals. The opportunity (and encouragement!) for community members, students included, to have a small piece of ground to manage and care for within the urban sprawl is becoming more and more rare. So, to have this incredible space already existing so conveniently close to our college seems serendipitous.
It takes a lot of work and coordination to keep spaces such as these running smoothly, and it can’t be done by one person – it takes a community to run a community garden, and in these times of isolation and fear, community is more important than ever.