McMinnville Community Garden gets a makeover

By NICOLE MONTESANO

Of the News-Register

The seeds are starting to go in at McMinnville's Community Garden, which is burgeoning with new projects this year.

They promise flowers grown to order for a local business, berries to sell at the summer farmer's market and fresh vegetables for area food pantries as well as community garden members.

A couple of rows still remain available, according to Bev Norman, who serves as garden coordinator with her husband, David,

"The garden is really full this year," Norman said. "We've just made really good progress and it looks like it's going to be a fantastic year."

Participants pay $15 a year for approximately 100 square feet of gardening space, plus plants, seeds, fertilizer and water. They are required to put in at least two four-hour shifts a month on food pantry rows and general garden maintenance.

"We have asked gardeners to be really mindful of their neighbors, not to grow anything too tall that would obstruct their light and so forth, and just to work together," Norman said. "They both might decide they want to grow corn, and if they do that at the end of a row, that's OK."

The fee helps subsidize some of the cost for maintaining and watering the garden, which is located next to the Salvation Army office on West Second Street in McMinnville. Eventually, organizers hope to make the garden self-sustaining.

However, people whose income makes the fee too steep may be granted a discount or waiver, Norman said. "The aim is to get people growing their own vegetables, and we don't want money to be a problem," she said.

The idea seems to gaining popularity.

"I hear an awful lot more talk around town from people about wanting to create new community gardens," Norman said. "We're so excited. We've been approached by a couple of different people to assist with setting up (additional community gardens). I think David and I see that as our role. We want to get this garden really well set up, with a committee to keep it going, and then move on and help other people. Because with the way our economy is going, we all need to get back to the land."

Volunteers have been busy with projects all spring.

"We've got a nice new shed that we're setting up a little mini reference library for the gardeners in there and all sorts other things inside to communicate with the gardeners," Norman said.

Where a wide aisle used to run down the middle of the garden, they've planted a bean patch featuring bush and English runner beans. Norman called the latter "the most fantastic beans I think I have ever had," and said everyone will share them.

There's also a children's garden with a new design in the right back corner.

To help the garden sustain itself, volunteers are growing flowers to order for the Incahoots florist shop, herbs for The Sage restaurant and strawberries and summer and fall raspberries, propagated from Normans' home vines. She said they plan to sell the berries this summer at the McMinnville Farmers Market, along with any excess produce.

However, most excess produce will go to The Salvation Army food pantry or, if it overflows, to other area pantries.

"The food bank is our main aim, to always make sure there's plenty of fresh vegetables for the food bank," Norman said.

This year, a volunteer is taking over rotating and labeling the food pantry produce, distributing it to other pantries, soup kitchens and churches if there's an excess, and providing recipes to help people learn how to use the fresh vegetables, particularly if they are less familiar ones. "She's made for this job," Norman said happily.

Last winter, Norman said, volunteers experimented with winter gardening for the food pantry, and provided pounds of fresh kale along with some winter lettuce. They plan to do more this winter, she said.

For more information, or to sign up for a garden row, call The Salvation Army at 503-472-1009 or visit the office at 1950 S.W. Second St. in McMinnville.

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