"Laughing all the way to the (FOOD) bank!"

The Sharing Gardens turned 17 years old on April 15th of this year! We began in the spring of 2009 at Alpine Park; then began gardening at our present site, in Monroe, Oregon in 2010; purchased the land and farmhouse here in 2013 and moved in once we finished renovations in the summer of 2014. It's been a journey with lots of bends in the road full of both challenges and blessings. This post gives a peek at how our project has evolved over the seasons and an overview of our current situation.

Here's our farmhouse before renovations (built in 1875, the oldest house in Monroe that's still lived in). Llyn is loading mint-straw into wheelbarrows to use as mulch/fertilizer on the Gardens located behind the farmhouse.

Here's our dear home after renovations. We planted the Red Hot Pokers in the foreground underneath where that mint straw had been.

We founded the Sharing Gardens under the belief that food should be a basic right; not something to be bought or sold. We are a 'community garden' but, instead of separate plots, with a membership fee, we all garden together (no fees). The food that is grown is shared amongst the people who support the project, while the surplus is shared through local food charities.  Overview and Benefits of the Sharing Gardens

In the beginning, we were almost the only gardeners in our area sharing produce with the food charities. Much of the produce that our local Pantry had for distribution was rather nasty rejects provided by grocery stores for the tax-write off they received in exchange. Some produce was purchased new but it was still of low quality (and never organically grown).

Here's Llyn with our very first donation to the S. Benton Food Pantry. More than half of it actually came from our friends who had more established gardens.

Once we got established, our donations grew to about three tons per year! Here we are in the early days with one week's lettuce donation to Local Aid in Junction City.

Gradually our donations grew and grew till, at our peak, and for several years that we measured everything the garden produced, we were growing about 6,000 pounds per season! All shared freely. Nothing ever sold. (Actually, for three seasons we had a CSA - community supported agriculture where people paid an annual subscription and received a box of produce each week for half the year but we dropped the CSA as soon as possible as it never felt aligned with our deepest beliefs that no one should ever be charged money for food. Llyn's mother has made some of Llyn's inheritance available prior to Judy's passing. This is our primary source of income these days. It is our belief that our generosity will be supported and so far this has held true.)

Generosity creates abundance...Service Learning students sharing in the harvest at the end of their volunteer session.

Within a few years, other gardeners began bringing their surplus produce. Also, produce was gleaned from farmer's markets and other sources. Eventually this support grew to the point that, during peak garden-harvest time (August - October) our closest Pantry has far less need of our donations (sometimes it's hard to find room on their distribution tables!)  

Tomatoes, cantaloupe and greens donated to the Pantry in 2015.

I overheard a nice comment at the Pantry just the other day as I helped restock the produce mid-morning. A customer said that she's been to many, many Pantries over the years but that the one in Monroe is her favorite because they/we "always have the freshest and most abundant produce". She said, "I don't want to just be eating canned and processed foods. I so appreciate that I can get a variety of fresh produce here!". It's gratifying to know that the Sharing Gardens has been such a big part of bringing fresh produce to Monroe's Food Pantry.
 

By the time our peppers and tomatoes are coming on strong, other local gardeners have lots to donate to the Pantry, so the volunteers in the gardens, Chris and myself, receive the majority of the Garden's  abundance in peak garden times.

We've had a fluctuating team of volunteers through the years. Sometimes as few as one or two per session; at most we had about six people join us. More than that proved too difficult to manage. Mistakes were made, and Chris and I spent so much time overseeing the volunteers that we didn't get to do much gardening or socializing ourselves on volunteer days! So now, from mid-spring to late fall, we have two sessions a week with 3-4 volunteers each time and that seems to work quite well. 

Nowadays we average two volunteer sessions per week, with three to four people per session.Volunteers help with whatever needs doing and share in the harvest. Volunteering and Garden Location

 

Because we're not in competition to get  our crops to market, the Sharing Gardens produce is 'slow grown'. We don't use commercial fertilizers to hasten growth (which can lead to an increase in water-weight, lower density of nutrients and the plants' greater susceptibility to diseases and pests). Our produce is sweet, tender and full of vitality.

From the beginning, the Sharing Gardens has always had a focus on education; we love to share what we have learned from experience (Chris has been an organic grower for close to 60 years!) and Llyn has been a writer from her earliest days; we make a great team! Our educational outreach goes first and foremost to the people who join us in the Gardens through the volunteer program. These folks get hands-on training.

 Our website reaches hundreds of people daily, worldwide. This spring, the site surpassed the million-views mark and shows no signs of slowing down. With close to 300 published posts, we've covered a lot of topics! The majority are "How to" articles based on our first-hand experience. The site has always been (and will always be) 'ad-free'.

Chris and I have both spent time over at Monroe's Pantry (it shares our same parking lot) talking with people and teaching them about healthy eating. We encourage people to try new fruits and vegetables, suggesting ways to prepare them.

A sign we posted with our kale donation...

Striped German tomato

A funny story from the early days:

Because Heirloom tomatoes often 'look funny', with deep lobes and unusual colors in many varieties, Pantry-goers were leery of trying them. They would reach for the uniform-sized, pale red varieties with a mealy consistency and no flavor because 'they were familiar'.

For a few weeks, Chris and I stood at the Pantry with pocket knives in-hand and we'd slice off samples our our tomatoes for people to try. 

At first people hesitated (and to be fair, some varieties with greenish shoulders don't look too appetizing!). But their responses were so gratifying each time they got over their fears. "Wow, that's amazing!", "That's how tomatoes are supposed  to taste!" "I haven't had a tomato that tasted that good since I ate out of my grandma's garden!".

We knew that we'd successfully converted the crowds when, after a few weeks we saw them by-passing the anemic commercial toms and overheard them arguing among themselves about which of the Heirloom varieties we'd provided were their favorites. Wonderful!

Though we love the knobby, strangely colored varieties we grow, to the uninitiated they may seem ugly and unappetizing.

Another way that we are teachers in our community is through the Service Learning program offered through Oregon State University (OSU). Students volunteer for four hours per term in a project relevant to their studies and, after completing a presentation to their classmates receive college credit.

Since our first groups came in 2012, we have been blessed by the students' presence (and labor!) as we pass on a bit of knowledge about growing food without the use of chemicals, commercial fertilizers or animal by-products. Service Learning: A new model for our schools?

The Q&A session with snacks is always a highlight of the Service Learning mornings. We love to feel their enthusiasm for making the world a better place and it feels good to be drawn-forth and queried for the knowledge we've gained over the years. (Pic is from our cozy living room).

Students help us with a variety of tasks. Here they are weeding a garlic patch.

Sam is sifting soil in the foreground; students are prepping beds along the side while Llyn and Margaret plant seeds in the back.

Shelling dried beans is a favorite activity for students (and our volunteers) alike. Very meditative and satisfying.

Some kids get into the big-muscle activities (like turning compost). We sure appreciate their help!! (For more great pics and a deeper explanation of OSU's Service Learning program:  Service Learning: A new model for our schools?)

We grow almost 100% of our own 'starts' and share hundreds of plants in the community each season through school-gardens, recipients at the food pantry and other local gardeners. We like to support folks who are growing food to share (not sell). 

Early years...2011 'starts' (lettuce, sunflowers, cabbage and more...)

Lua and Llyn with a fraction of the 'starts' we've donated to her amazing school gardens. Luckiamute Charter school garden program. Lua has developed a program that goes from K-8th grade in which the students get hands-on learning about gardening and harvesting fruits and vegetables; growing native plants and supporting wildlife. The students learn how to prepare the foods they grow (along with other healthy ingredients) for tasty, simple snacks that expand their 'food vocabulary'. Lua is amazing!

We grow, process and save almost all of the seeds we use in the garden. This is a major focus of our teaching-posts. Because of the 'economy' of seed production, one seed can generate literally thousands of offspring. To learn more:  Basic Seed-Saving on a Small Scale

Part of our 2025 kidney bean and blue corn harvests ready to finish their drying process in baskets on shelves above our wood stove. These beans and grains can be eaten and/or used to grow future crops. The 'economy' of seeds..."From the one, many...".

We always have way more seed than we can use and share through various networks. 

Part of the seeds that we grew and processed ourselves in 2025 and donated to the Agrarian Sharing Network  - a wonderful, regional network equally dedicated to keeping our food-system commercial-free.

We continue to develop low-tech, small-scale methods for saving storage crops such as dried corn, sorghum, amaranth, and dried beans to help feed us through the leaner months when gardens are not producing as abundantly. Local food: Grow your own beans and grains 

Heirloom corns come in many colors. Corn is "promiscuous" and cross-pollinates easily. Here are crosses between Hooker's Blue and Golden Bantam. Grow Your Own 'Blue Corn'

As supply chains for commercial fertilizers tightened with the onset of war in the Middle East this past winter, we felt such gratitude that our methods of veganic agriculture continue to serve us well. Locally Sustainable Gardening in the Face of Supply-Chain Shortages

This is our eighth season without purchasing any commercial fertilizers or animal by-products (bone meal/blood meal etc), and without using animal manures for fertilizer. 

The majority of our fertility comes from: composted leaves, lawn-clippings and kitchen scraps. We also use ashes and coffee-grounds. We've begun experimenting with comfrey tea too (more on that to come).  

People often comment that our plants seem to be "glowing from within". We feed the soil and the plants take care of themselves! Because our food isn't forced to grow quickly (no commercial fertilizers), the plant cells are thicker and the plants are more resistant to disease and insect infestations. 

We are able to grow abundant crops without commercial fertilizers and animal by-products or manures. For a detailed description of our methods: Making Your Own "Veganic" Potting Soil in Your Greenhouse Paths - Using Worms (Broccoli and peppers in the foreground with corn in the rear. The red plant is a volunteer 'Hopi red-dye amaranth' which is edible and we harvest, dry and grind it for use in cooking.)

Another part of our mission is to encourage more people to live in a spirit of generosity, reciprocity and trust that, the more we shift from a 'transactional' (buying and selling) mentality to a 'gifting', relational ecology, the healthier all of us (and the natural world) will be. In this spirit, we maintain another website that is full of uplifting examples of the power of sharing, generosity, and caring for Creation. To visit the site: All Things Sharing

We feel incredibly blessed to be on this garden journey and look forward to continuing on this path of growing and sharing. Thanks for coming along!

Sharing Gardens founders, Chris Burns and Llyn Peabody in our front yard kale patch, 2017

 

Summer-themed posts

Here is a post with links to articles we've written that are relevant to this time of year. Happy Gardening!

Planting a fall and winter garden: Most home gardeners have one major planting in the spring and once these plants reach maturity and die, that's it for the season. By planting succession crops it's possible to increase the yield of your garden considerably. It can seem counterintuitive to start seedlings in the heat of summer for fall and winter crops but seeds need time to germinate before they can be transplanted out into one's larger garden area. Also, having just celebrated the Summer Solstice, each day reduces in length and by September this can have a marked impact on how much growth each plant puts on in a day. Follow this link for many tips on planting a fall and winter garden.

Transplanting Beet Seedlings: A few years ago, we discovered that beet seedlings transplant quite readily. Your nursery soil must be quite loose (so the beet roots don't get damaged when you dig them up) and you need to prep the receiving soil also to minimize transplant shock. This saves seed, and room in the germination process as you only transplant the viable seedlings.

Saving Tomato Seeds: Though for many of us in the northern hemisphere, in early July most tomatoes are only just beginning to ripen, here's a DIY guide to saving seeds for next year's plants. All you need is a half-gallon mason jar (or something similar) some cheese cloth to keep fruit flies from proliferating and a place to dry them out of direct sun and safe from mice (who love to eat the seeds!). Note: this only works with non-hybrid/open-pollinated/heirloom varieties of tomatoes.

Saving pea seeds - a low tech method to prevent 'pea weevil' damage: Pea seeds are very easy to save; most varieties (all?) will 'grow-true' (not cross-pollinate with other pea varieties grown nearby at the same time). The only tricky part is that in many regions pea seeds are susceptible to infestation of pea weevils which can make your pea seeds unable to germinate. Here's a low-tech method to prevent pea weevil damage that we have had great success with.

Tips for Maintaining a Well-Stocked Pantry: We understand that not everyone who follows our blog has garden-space or the ability to apply our gardening tips so here's a post for everyone! Whether your goal is to weather the next short (or long-term) power outage in your area, you want to stock up to hedge against rising food prices in anticipation of crop-losses due to fertilizer and water-shortages and other stresses on our food systems, or you'd just like to be able to open your cupboards and have some variety to choose from without having to go shopping so frequently, this post is for you!

A little farmer/gardener humor:  "Mama don't let your babies grow up to be farmers..." 

A Moneyless life: Living in the Gift Economy:
In 2015 Jo Nemeth left her job, closed her bank account and said goodbye to the last of her money. Eleven years later, Jo lives a healthy, fulfilling life while dramatically reducing her personal ecological impact. In this 16-min. video, she shares her journey from terrifying climate grief to a place of purpose and contribution. "Truly inspiring on so many levels!"

 

Love from Llyn and Chris and the Sharing Gardens (Image by Mike Brunt: https://www.secretlifeofseeds.com/)

Spring has sprung! Here we go again...

Greetings dear friends, near and far. Spring has sprung here in Oregon! A few weeks ago we had a flush of sunny days in the low 70's-F and it made everything surge into growth-mode! Fruit trees are blossoming, bulbs are blooming, grass is growing (which we harvest and use for mulch and to create compost in our greenhouse paths: LINK). Though winter isn't entirely over yet, it feels good that the seasonal wheel is turning toward warmth and longer days. (Image: apple blossom behind our farmhouse).

Rainbow over The Ark greenhouse.

This post contains several articles we hope you will find relevant to our times: Info on building a small greenhouse out of a metal carport frame; How to build a bean tipi/teepee and an organic solution to slugs. 

Two teepees in front of our greenhouses; ready for bean planting.

The opening article is a deviation from the usual "How To" posts on this site and addresses the enormous challenges of our times from a Gandhi-an, solution perspective. We hope you will find it inspiring.

Image by Llyn Peabody

Lastly, if you are local to our town and would like to join us for a season of food-growing/seed-saving/food-preservation fun, there's a link to our volunteer page too. (Oh, and don't miss the short, sweet, uplifting video at the very end; a little wisdom from Andy and Opie Griffith)

Volunteers sifting mushroom compost.

At this time of world upheaval, environmental destruction and division among people, it is so good to hear coherent, wise voices, guiding us in ways that will help us heal the world. Nipun Mehta is one of those voices. He is the founder of ServiceSpace, a global ecosystem working at the intersection of technology, volunteerism, and a culture of generosity. Click here for an introduction to an article he wrote that explores the need to balance our activism/protesting (10%) with positive, creative actions (90%): Science of Soul Force: How Your Heart Changes the World. Brilliant!

Organic Solution to Slugs - Iron Phosphate: If you live in a moist climate like the Pacific NW, slugs and snails can be so destructive and disheartening! This post outlines our journey from the beginnings of our garden here in Monroe (2010) when whole rows of lettuce were consumed or damaged beyond recovery in a single night (!) to the present-day when we hardly ever see any slugs or snails in our gardens at all. If you don't want to read the whole post, the solution we found is: iron phosphate pellets (coated in something like oat-flour) - commercially known as Sluggo. It basically constipates the gastropods, disrupting their reproductive cycle.

Carport-Frame Greenhouse Design: Current world upheaval is catalyzing a resurgence in interest in growing ones own food. Having the ability to start seedlings at home and grow them to the point where they can be transplanted outside will give you a real jump on the season and it can be incredibly empowering (not to mention fun, and healing to one's nervous system!). All of our greenhouses have been positioned directly on the ground and we've built raised beds within them. We use saw-horses and slatted tables to start seedlings in the spring which are removed in time to plant in the beds later in the season for warmth-loving crops like tomatoes and peppers. An efficient use of space! This post will walk you through the step-by-step process of turning a metal carport frame into a sweet, functional greenhouse!

How to build a Bean Tipi/Teepee: In recent years, the Sharing Gardens have shifted the types of crops we grow towards a greater emphasis on storage crops like dried corn, sorghum and beans. Pole beans can take up a lot of space and resources if you trellis them in a straight line. We've found that growing beans on tipis is a very efficient use of space. Another advantage is that tipis can be disassembled and stored out of the way in the winter and then set up in a new site the following season. They also look great and make a fun hiding place for kids in summer's heat. Enjoy!

Potato harvesting at the Sharing Gardens

Volunteering and Garden Location: Participating at the Sharing Gardens is more than your typical volunteer experience. We welcome share-givers (volunteers) to share in learning how to grow food without chemicals or animal by-products to create fertility in a spirit of mutual generosity.

If interested, participants will learn about the full seasonal growing cycle: from planting seeds, growing them out, harvesting and preserving food, and saving seeds for the future. 

 

Everyone who contributes to the Sharing Gardens, whether through time, money or materials, shares in the the harvest. There is a wonderful feeling of camaraderie and closeness that develops amongst the people who help grow and harvest the food.  Our surplus fruits and vegetables are donated to local food charities. 

We have a limited number of spaces open for share-givers for the 2026 season. If you'd like to learn more, click here and be in touch.

Andy and Opie: Generosity, Charity and Being Selfish: The Andy Griffith Show often dished up some poignant lessons about being a good person in the world. Here's a precious little clip where Andy wrongly accuses Opie of being selfish. A great message overall...(and as gardeners who rely largely on worms to help us create compost for soil fertility, we especially enjoyed Opie's perspective on life as a worm!). (LINK) 

The Sharing Gardens is a registered non-profit and tax-exempt organization. We exist entirely through donations. If you have found benefit from our project or our site, please consider making a donation through PayPal. A receipt will automatically be provided for your records.