Got lumber?

Future site of Alpine's tool shed.

Curtis and Loren Bowman are brothers. They have lived in the Monroe/Alpine community for many years. Loren began managing the Monroe Food Bank as a volunteer almost fifteen years ago and developed it into the thriving service it is today. When he started, the Food Bank was giving food-boxes once a month to about three families. Now it serves about ten times that amount on a weekly basis. Because of the recession, the numbers of people served by this local effort continues to grow. A year or so ago, Loren stepped back from being the manager of the program and passed on the job to his brother Curtis. These are two humble and hard-working servants in our community. Just last week Loren made a donation to help the "Sharing Gardens", he donated a whole bunch of used decking material that we can use to build a tool shed at the Alpine Garden site.


Add this to the lumber already donated by Tibby and John Scott and we have more than half of what we need to build the shed. After a few hours pulling nails this weekend we ended up with a good-looking stack of lumber.

Our current lumber stash at Alpine Park

Thanks to Trust Management Services and the generous grant they just awarded us (more on this in a future blog-post) we now are well-funded through this coming year. In an effort to stretch these funds as far as they will go, we would still like to encourage everyone to contribute their "excess" materials to the project. If any of you readers have a stack of used, or new 2 x 4's that you don't see a need for, we'd be grateful to take them off your hands and put them to good use. Once we have the tool shed built in the Alpine Park we can open up the cinder-block bathroom (where we've been storing tools) for public use again.

"Sharing Garden's" Progress

Here in the Willamette Valley we went from an absolutely beautiful run of weather in mid-to-late February which was then followed by weeks and weeks of (mostly) rain. Both garden sites are lowlands that soak up a lot of water in the winter and take awhile to drain in the spring. The Monroe plot is yet to be tilled but fortunately Chris built some raised beds in the Alpine garden just before the rains set in.

 Alpine Garden in April 2010 - Super Soggy!

We've had just enough sunny weather in the last week for the standing water to recede, and its a good thing as several flats of veggie "starts" were rapidly outgrowing their pots, and the pea plants were beginning to  intertwine their tendrils which would make it more and more difficult to separate them without damage.

 A van-load of peas, kale and lettuce to plant

Last Saturday we transplanted three flats of lettuce, three of peas and a half a flat of kale. Since these are all plants that will require regular harvesting, we planted them as close to the gate as soil-wetness would allow. In planning out a garden you must juggle so many factors: the frequency of harvest, the season you'll be harvesting (how soon that section of your garden will be open for other crops to be grown) and the particular needs of each kind of produce: light, drainage and relative fertility of the soil.

As the season gets more under way, and weather becomes more stabilized, we intend to have weekly volunteer times scheduled for each garden (Alpine: Wed's - 4-6:00 pm and Monroe: Thurs - 9-11:00 am) but now, we're just taking care of things when the weather will allow. (We're grateful to the dozen folks who have already asked to be put on our volunteer list. Let us know if you too would like to be added: alpinecogarden@gmail.com ) Last Saturday we had a window of opportunity so we took advantage of it. We were happy when Jesse Wolfe, a regular volunteer from last year, happened to be driving by and stopped to help transplant the lettuce and stake up the peas.

Chris and Jesse transplanting in the Alpine Garden.

Garden tip for Peas: In our region, its ideal to plant peas around Valentine's Day. This gives them the best head start for blooming in time for the longest possible harvest season. The problem is that the soil is often very wet and cold and, even if you get a good start sowing seeds directly in the soil, the March and April rains can retard their growth significantly, or the seedlings rot off at soil-level. One way to work around this is to plant your seeds, in four-inch pots, one in each corner (four seeds per pot). This gives each plant enough soil to germinate and grow to several inches in height, in the warm(er) controlled environment of the green house (or sunny windowsill). When it comes time to transplant, you plant all four plants in the same hole (don't try to separate their roots!). Plant each set of four about 8"-10" apart with bamboo stakes or other climbing trellis in between each clump of starts. The plants will go through a little stress from transplanting but once they acclimatize to their new environment they'll be well along the way to yielding a bounteous and long-term harvest!

Thank-you's: As readers know, these gardens are run entirely through donated time and materials. We continue to feel support coming from all directions of our extended community. We make an effort to acknowledge all the generous donations that come our way. Please forgive us if we have somehow overlooked your specific donation. YOU ARE APPRECIATED! Tina Johnson, one of the volunteers at the Monroe Foodbank gave us a bunch of corn, peas and bean seeds; Guy Urbach has donated a large piece of "road carpet" to use as weed barrier. Tibby and John Scott have donated a whole slew of fencing and other building materials and garden supplies. The Diamond Woods Golf Course has made their heavy-duty lawn mower available to us for periodic lawn-mowing at the Alpine Park this summer. Last weekend, Jack Jones donated much of his Saturday joyfully mowing the grass at the Alpine Park that surrounds our garden. Dorothy Brinckerhoff and Gary Watts of Alpine Pump continue to be our guardian angels in too many ways to innumerate. Thank you also to the Lion's Club who made a $100 donation to the Gardens' general fund and $100 to cover the electric bill to run the pump at the Alpine site. Evelyn Lee donated a whole bushel of sprouting potatoes and is the ongoing manager of our local list-serve--passing on these emails to the community at-large. Rann Millar of Harrisburg has been contributing his time translating our materials into Spanish to support our outreach efforts to the Latino community. And last but not least we received an anonymous donation of pots and flats and a bag of already beautifully "chitted" potatoes.

A handful of potatoes ready for planting.

With the seed potatoes we saved from last year's crop, the one's we've picked up at the produce department and those from people in the area, we figure we have at least 80 pounds! With each seed-potato able to yield up to five pounds of harvest, we're looking at a significant amount of yummy, easily stored food for those who have participated in the gardens this summer, and the Monroe Food Bank as well.

A good morning's work!

Signs of the Times

Chris finished painting both garden signs and we look forward to another break in the weather to hang them at the garden sites. Here's the one for Alpine:

And here's the one for Monroe:

Someone sent us a link to this article in the San Francisco Chronicle featuring a garden similar to our "Sharing Gardens". Its called a "Free Farm". "Free Farm article"

Sharing Gardens - In the News!

Exciting news! We got a "Letter to the Editor" published in this week's Eugene Weekly. Here's the link... and below it, the actual text of the letter.


STONE SOUP GARDEN
We are pleased to see the coverage EW has given in the last two issues regarding local food security (“Give the homeless a garden?” 2/18,  and “Food Security Action No Longer a Choice” 2/10). Here in Monroe and Alpine we have created a solution that is helping people learn about gardening, grow their own food and lift the burden on our local food bank to provide for its ever increasing customers. We call it a “Sharing Garden.”
What makes these ‘sharing’ gardens unique is that, instead of many separate plots that are rented by individuals, these gardens are one large plot, shared by all. All materials and labor are donated. The food we grow is shared amongst those who have contributed in some way as well as others who are in need in our community. All surplus is donated to our local food bank. No one is ever charged money for the food that is grown.
We like to think of it as a “Stone Soup” garden where each of us donates a little of our surplus — whether in time or materials — to grow both a sense of community, and plenty of food to share. This model is easily replicated anywhere there are vacant lots and people with enough gardening experience to oversee the project and does not require a large input of money to make it work.
Alpine has been host to this unique type of community garden for a year (and is heading into its second). Monroe is starting its first plot this spring. For more info about our project: www.thesharinggardens.blogspot.com
Llyn Peabody and Chris Burns, Garden Coordinators

Monroe's Own Food-Sharing Garden

As many of our readers already know, Alpine, Oregon (where we live) has been host to a unique community garden for a year (and is heading into its second). What makes this 'sharing' garden unique is that, instead of many separate plots, that are rented by individuals, this garden is one large plot, shared by all. All materials and labor are donated - either by local individuals and families, or through grants from businesses and non-profit organizations. The food we grow is shared amongst those who have contributed in some way as well as others who are in need in our community. All surplus is donated to our local food-bank. No one is ever charged money for the food that is grown. We like to think of it as a 'Stone Soup' garden where each of us donates a little of our surplus --whether in time or materials--to grow a sense of community, and plenty of food to share. 

These are teaching gardens as well. All food is grown without use of herbicides and pesticides. We rely on heavy mulching (to minimize the need for watering and weeding) and compost (made from yard and kitchen waste) to fertilize the soil. People who are interested in this project, if local, can join us in the garden and learn by doing. Our more distant supporters can follow these blog posts to pick up gardening tips and ideas, or learn how to start a Sharing garden in your own neighborhood.

         Tilling in maple leaves between rows of cover-crop.

In mid-February 2010, Alpine's neighbor, Monroe, became host to a Sharing Garden as well. We are extremely excited about this development. While Alpine's garden is about 80' x 100', we paced out Monroe's garden at 110' x 175'. Between the two gardens this brings us up to about 2/3 of an acre of rich and fertile soil. In addition, at the new site, we've got a 20' x 30' metal building built on a concrete pad which can store the garden tools and be a workshop space on rainy days. It'll be mighty toasty in the summer! and we're already designing an indoor food-drying system against the south wall. The well, at its peak, flows at 100 gallons a minute! Yes folks, you read that right! We won't have to worry about the garden drying out just as its coming into its fullest harvest time.

                                            Harvest 2009.

Another great feature of this site is its location. Monroe is a town of about 700 people. It's got a main-street with some shops. Monroe hosts about half a dozen churches and the elementary, middle and high-schools that serve this rural region. Our garden site is located in the empty field directly between the elementary school and the Methodist church that houses the food-bank where we take our surplus produce.  This way, it will be easy to involve school-age children and give them access to a garden for hands-on learning opportunities. Also, the recipients of our bounty at the food-bank can make a direct connection between the food they're eating and where it comes from. We've already begun drumming up some volunteer interest from those who benefit from the food-bank. As the Alpine garden has few people within walking distance, Monroe's garden site makes it more convenient for volunteers to participate.

As we mentioned in the last post. The Monroe garden is sited on the property of Chester Crowson, a long-time valuable member of the local community. At 86, Chester has been a bus-driver for over 40 years and has the distinction of being Oregon's oldest bus-driver on record. He currently owns the bus company that provides transport for all the local children to and from school. If the funding comes through, he'll be providing bus-service to the young people in our pilot program this summer, to bring them to and from the Alpine site. We are deeply grateful for Mr. Crowson's open-handed and good-hearted support for this garden project. Thank you Chester!

P.S To our local friends and supporters: We're going to need someone with a large tractor and tiller to do the initial ground-breaking in Monroe once the soil drains. If you'd like to volunteer, or know someone who can, please give us a call at 847-8797. Chris and Llyn

First Signs of Spring!

Well, it appears that spring is on its way, at least in our neck of the woods. The crocuses have been blooming for a few weeks now, willows are leafing out, and the robins have returned. There's a beautiful soft "blush" when you look to the hills as all the deciduous trees' buds slowly begin to swell. And the moist wakening earth just smells so fine on a sunny day. With the arrival of spring, we gardeners get itchy to be working the soil again and yearn to start the cycle of planting, cultivation and harvest once again.

We're happy to announce that we've received permission for a second year of gardening at Alpine's Food-Sharing garden. Chris has painted a beautiful sign to display at the park. The sign is made almost entirely from recycled materials. It provided a welcome diversion to get us through the damp, dark days here in Alpine. He also built several bird houses to attract bluebirds, and woodpeckers to the park. We'll let you know when the birds move in!

We'll be expanding the garden program for 2010. With the help of Evelyn Lee (thanks Evelyn!), we submitted an extensive grant proposal which includes funding to expand the program in the following ways:

• We've been given permission by Chester Crowson (of the Crowson School-bus Company in Monroe) to expand our garden to a second, additional garden plot on his property between the Food Bank (where we've been taking our surplus produce) and the elementary school in Monroe. He made it clear to us that he is one hundred percent supportive of the program and will "help us in any way" he can. Be sure to thank him next time you see him.
• We're creating a pilot project to involve young people ages 9-18 in serving their community by raising food especially for the Monroe Food Bank and others in need while they learn valuable gardening skills.
• And we intend to expand and structure our volunteer program to involve more people in the project. (email us if you want to be on our volunteer list: alpinecogarden@gmail.com )

Pea Planting Tips: Fortunately in our area, there are a few things that can be started now with a cloche (unheated greenhouse) or cold frame. Though some gardeners can sow peas directly in the ground now, the Alpine garden site is still too soggy so we've started ours indoors. We've planted four seeds in the four corners of four-inch pots, about one finger-knuckle deep. The four-inch pots are deep enough that the plants won’t exhaust the nutrients or become root bound before they're transplanted. When its time to transplant, we'll put each clump of four into the soil without teasing them apart. Each clump will be planted eight inches apart. Other plants we've started in the cloche are: spinach, kale, broccoli, parsley, onions and lettuce.

We'll keep you informed about how you can get involved in the existing Alpine garden, the Monroe garden expansion as well as the youth program.

Llyn and Chris - Garden Coordinators