Full Circle Generosity - some examples...

The Sharing Gardens is a unique kind of community garden: Instead of many separate plots that are rented by individuals, the garden is one large plot, shared by all. All materials and labor are donated. Share-givers (volunteers) typically come one to two times per week (at scheduled times) to help in all aspects of farming from planting, through harvest and seed-saving. The food we grow is shared amongst those who have contributed in some way as well as with others who are in need in our community through food pantries and other charities. (Overview and Benefits of the Sharing Gardens) 

The Gardens operate on the principle of mutual- or full-circle generosity, finding ways to help each other in the community in which we live. 

Here are two actual examples of how this works:

The Garden's fertility comes primarily from leaves, grass, wood ash (we heat entirely with wood and save the leftover charcoal and ashes) and composted fruits and veg from our own table scraps and the food pantry which shares our parking lot. This was the fourth season that we grew our crops without use of commercial fertilizers, store-bought amendments, livestock manures or any animal by-products; in other words: veganically. (LINK-Introduction to veganics). We've written extensively about our veganic methods in previous posts. Here's a LINK to Locally Sustainable Gardening in the Face of Supply-Chain Shortages.

Much of the Garden's fertility comes from yard waste and food scraps from our own kitchen and produce "past its prime" from the food pantry that shares our parking lot. Worms absolutely love apples and other sweet fruits. The pile above was layered with the 'scraps' alternating with leaves and compost that wasn't fully finished. We mounded it up over 3-feet high and covered it with a tarp. it will be finished and ready for use by early spring.

Full-circle Farming: It is said that "for every calorie that leaves a farm, at least a calorie must replace it". This means that if the Sharing Gardens were to continue to give away as much produce as we do, and do nothing to replace the organic matter/bio-mass that this represents, that our soil would not only diminish in terms of fertility and minerals but each year we would actually have physically less soil. We have addressed this challenge by creating a drop-off site for neighbors to bring us their grass-clippings and leaves that would just be a waste-product if they had to keep it on their own land. (We have no yard-waste pick-up in our small town and residents are not allowed to burn yard-waste during summer months due to fire danger). So, by providing this drop-off site, it keeps these precious materials from going into the land-fill or polluting the air.

Here is the donation drop-off site for leaves and grass in front of the Sharing Gardens. The trash can is full of plastic bags we've dried, rolled into bunches of 5-6 and make available for free re-use.

We are especially grateful to our neighbors, the Dillards who send us their substantial surplus of leaves and grass-clippings (their home sits on 3-acres). Here's the corner of the Sharing Gardens that shares their fence line.

We have another 'neighbor' (up the road) who also donates massive amounts of leaves each fall. Here's David (left) and one of his helpers donating a load of leaves with his dump-trailer.

The leaves and grass-clippings are donated. This keeps them out of burn-piles or landfills. It contributes to garden fertility. We grow vegetables and give them to those who have contributed in some way and donate the surplus to food charities. Full Circle! (left; Llyn, assembling the harvest for distribution to our share-givers/volunteers and food pantries.)

Firewood and wood ash: We heat our home entirely with wood (left). As we mentioned before, wood ash is another source of garden fertility (LINK: Coffee Grounds and Wood Ash for Soil Fertility). Though this year we purchased the majority of our firewood, we also received a large donation of seasoned madrone tree 'rounds'. Madrone trees produce a super-dense hardwood that burns slow and hot. Our friend Steve Rose calls it "the closest plant-source to burning coal"! The madrone was donated by the warehouse manager of Local Aid - a food pantry that receives a majority of our donations (though the wood came from her personally, not the pantry). Our dear friend and long-term garden volunteer Donn Dussell brought his wood-splitter and helped us split the wood. We kept half, and donated the other half to a family in-need.

We receive donations of firewood. Donn donates the use of his splitter and his time splitting the wood. We burn the wood (and share some with a family in-need). The ashes create fertility in the Gardens. We have surplus veggies to share in the community. Full Circle!

Our dear friend Donn. He comes weekly to help in the Gardens and also finds so many other ways to contribute as well. A true gem!