Stone Soup, Gratitude and Wishlist

Alpine and Monroe's Sharing Gardens are a unique model of Community Garden. 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 with others who are in need in our community. All surplus is donated to our local food-bank and other local food charities. No one is ever charged money for the food that is grown.

Remember the story of "Stone Soup"? A couple of strangers wander into a town of suspicious people and offer to make Stone Soup. No one believes it can be done, and everyone withholds contributing until a small child, who hasn't been tainted yet by the town's stingy spirit, brings forth a few onions stored in her family's root cellar. One by one the townspeople get caught up in the spirit of sharing and, by the end of the story they all sit down to delicious soup, made better by what each of them contributed.

Cathy Rose, Danielle and Llyn - 2010 with bouquets of kale.

The Sharing Gardens are a lot like Stone Soup. Everything that goes into making it a success comes from the generosity of people near and far. Some people give time, some give money and some bring us surplus materials they don't have need of, or even things like grass clippings, old cedar boards or other things bound for the dump or burn-pile. The gardens become a focal point for giving and receiving -- with each person who donates being blessed with the good feeling that they are making the world a better place through their contributions. And, for those local enough to partake, they're sharing in the bounty of the garden's beautiful harvest as well.

Local kids help with the harvest.

Each week brings new surprises in support and generosity and there are also on-going supporters who help make the garden's success possible.

Most recently we have some new, specific people to thank:

Bob and Cheryl Ballard brought us a dozen full bags of dried grass clippings - great for mulching the potatoes and putting under the burgeoning winter squash so they don't develop rotten spots.

Judy Todd has made a second cash donation.

We are grateful for our ongoing community of volunteers. People help out in the ways they are able; we find tasks to suit everyone's abilities. If you'd like to join in the fun of gardening without use of herbicides and pesticides, and share in the harvest, here is a link that shows our regular volunteer times. or send us an email and we can add you to the list to receive weekly reminders.

It's been awhile since we thanked our on-going supporters. These are people and organizations that help make the gardens possible:

Chester Crowson - owns the land where we have the Monroe site. He lets us use it for free as well as covering the cost of the electricity to run the pump in the well.


Bud Hardin - made a lump-sum donation to cover the cost of a portable toilet at the Monroe garden site for a whole year! The toilet is shared with the Monroe Food Bank volunteers as well. (And thanks to Guy Urbach for approaching Bud on our behalf - it wouldn't have happened without you!)

Best Pots -  is the local portable toilet service that provides a unit at the Monroe garden. They have given us a generous discount on the rental fee.

Weekly harvest - Alpine 2010

Mylrea Estell and Ray Kreth - our landlords - continue to harbor us in a low-pressure and generous arrangement, making it possible for us to volunteer so much of our time to the gardens.

Alpine Community Center - has umbrellaed us under their insurance policy so the activities at both garden sites are covered.

Alpine Pump - Dorothy and Gary give us permission to put the gardens' trash into their dumpster.

Jennifer Revais - empties the garbage cans at Alpine's Chapel Park as an on-going service.

 ...and The Tribune News - our great, local, weekly paper has been very helpful in printing many of our posts and helping us circulate news of the gardens to a much larger audience than we can reach on-line.

If you've been itching to get involved in some way and would like to know how you can add your "onions" to the pot, check out our Wish List below, or come down on one of the volunteer days and share in the "stone soup" garden.



Here is our current wishlist


Garden locations and volunteer times

Happy pumpkin picker - 2010

 

Harvest Totals - May 23 - July 31. 2011

One day's lettuce harvest!

(Note: I started this post almost three weeks ago and then life took over! Rather than re-write it, just know that it's not entirely up to date...)

We've been harvesting from the garden for ten weeks. The lettuce, peas and broccoli are finished for now. The beets, onions, zucchini, tomatoes and potatoes are just beginning. We started seeds for our fall/winter crops a few weeks ago and have begun transplanting them in the ground.  We weigh and tally all the harvests before distribution. This food is shared amongst volunteers and other contributors, the Monroe Food bank, Monroe's Senior Nutrition Program (bi-weekly lunches at the Legion Hall), Harrisburg Gleaners and Linn/Benton Food Share. Here are harvest totals, as of July 31.

Beets: 21 bunches
Broccoli: 26 pounds
Kale: 127 bunches
Lettuce: 551 heads (a great year for lettuce!!)
Green onion bunches: 23
Peas: 20 pounds
Spinach: 25 bunches

After checking with our local market that sells organic food, we tallied up how much this produce would cost if people were buying it for themselves. The total came to a little more than $2,500.

Gallery of Givers

We've got a really wonderful core group of volunteers showing up once or twice a week now. One day we had three mother/daughter pairs. And another day we had four young people ages 7 to 11. My mom, Judy has been visiting for two weeks and sister, Sue and nephew, Miles, joined in for an afternoon, which was really fun. Here are a sampling of smiling faces, happy helpers and a view of the garden's progress.

Miles plants broccoli

Sue displays an early onion harvest proudly.

Kaitlynn and Kyra with a bucket of potatoes freshly harvested

Christine (Ms Bug) trims tomatoes

Monroe Garden - celery in sleeves on left, lettuce-starts in middle, potatoes on right

That's an 8-pound cabbage!

Judy-mom, Chris and Jennifer - mulching with grass clippings

Kaitlynn watering the lettuce and Brussels Sprouts

Mark building a new compost bin

Niko - our youngest helper, takes a turn at watering.

Gallery of Givers - July 2011

So much has been happening since last we posted. This is the time of year when the gardens begin to grow in leaps and bounds! Though this has been the coolest and wettest spring that we've had for a long time, we're finally starting to get some real summer weather. Here is a gallery which will show you some highlights of the people and projects in the garden.


Kaitlyn helps Chris harvest garlic. That's celery in "sleeves" in the foreground.


Kaitlyn with garlic harvest.


Larry and Germaine harvesting and weeding beets. Our tomatoes (in A-frame cages) are getting nice and bushy and starting to ripen steadily now.


Weeding and harvesting.

 

Renee and Johan pull the last of the broccoli plants. Time to soak the compost pile and tarp it so it will start to decompose. Renee has been a big help this spring as she comes weekly to help and harvest food to take to the bi-weekly Senior Lunch program in Monroe at the Legion Hall.


Danielle sifting compost. Rich with worm castings and eggs it makes a great top-dressing or tilled into the beds. This is the end product of our hay-bale compost piles.


Jan has been one of our steadiest volunteers this year. Here she is spreading straw in the garden paths.

 

Ken helps build tomato cages.

Jennifer, Llyn and Dawn transplant Shag Bark Hickory tree seedlings. We've got extra if you want to put one in at your home (they're slow-growing but get VERY big!)


Larry helps Chris plant and mulch potatoes. Curtis, at the Food Bank gave us fifty pounds (!) of sprouting potatoes. I think we're going to have a fine harvest this year.


Fun at the gardens. John, Chris, Jennifer and Llyn (Sorry, Dawn, I cut off your face holding up the camera like I did.)


Herman and Liz brought us a full truck load of grass clippings from behind their church. "Mulch" thanks!


Our kale harvest has been abundant this year. We were having a hard time giving it all away each week till we added this sign at the Food Bank. "Tastes like broccoli...Cook it like spinach..." Sometimes people need help in trying unfamiliar foods.


Mike Hall adds onions to 'what's cookin' at a recent community dinner hosted by Monroe's Methodist Church...


...and Phyllis Derr helps with the dishes. She's been donating her grass clippings for garden-mulch all spring. Thanks!


We sold our dear little 1947 Farmall Cub to a young couple getting their own organic farm started near Albany, Oregon. Glad to see the Cub's going to a working home and won't just be a museum piece. These tractors were designed for small-scale vegetable farming and 1947 was the first year they were built. Their website is http://pitchforkandcrow.com/


Ken, a happy helper! Job well done.

Aside from the volunteers, pictured and "behind the scenes", we'd also like to thank these people for their contributions to the garden's success:
Tina - ice cream buckets with lids
Renee and Johan Ferrer - T-post driver
Judy Todd - cash donation
Jo Ellen Watts - gardening boots and plant tags
Phyllis Derr - grass clippings
Chuck and Betty Conway - cash donation
Liz and Herman Koontz - grass clippings from Church of Christ mowings
The Tribune News who continue to publish our articles and wish-lists.
Tom Goracke - 30 bales of nicely rotting grass-straw, complete with pigeon poop "frosting" on the top bales. Keep 'em coming!

We've been receiving regular anonymous donations of pots/flats and hoses. Much thanks for these. Whatever we can't use goes to good homes. Apologies if we haven't specifically acknowledged someone. You are appreciated!

We Can Use Your Spoiled Hay and Straw!

We've harvested over 250 heads of lettuce in the last three weeks at the Sharing Gardens (as well as smaller quantities of broccoli, peas and kale). The first zucchinis are ripening and the tomatoes are setting fruit. With continued sun we'll be feeding people prolific quantities of these and other summer beauties. The garden's bounty is shared amongst volunteers, the Monroe Food Bank, Monroe's Senior Nutrition Program, the Harrisburg Gleaners, the Linn/Benton Food Share Program and other people in need. No one is ever charged money for the food that is grown.

Our primary need in the gardens at this time is for a large infusion of straw or hay for mulch (spoiled is OK if the bales are still dry enough to move easily).  Straw is preferable as it flakes more evenly but grass-hay will work too. If you are cleaning out your barn to make room for new hay, we can provide an alternative to burning, or piling it to slowly rot.
The straw adds organic matter to the gardens, improving  fertility. Volunteers love the dry comfort of weeding from straw paths and the worms, snakes and other garden-friendly wildlife appreciate the food and shelter it provides.

We've already used the 55 bales of straw donated by Mark Frystak, of Monroe but we can still use much more and will continue to have need all through the season. We used about 10 tons last year and had about a third less garden in cultivation. If you have bales to donate, we can probably arrange for pick-up but delivery is preferred.

All Donations are Tax-deductible. Please call if you can help (541) 847-8797. www.AlpineGarden.blogspot.com

Illinois Sharing Garden

We recently received this enthusiastic email from someone who feels inspired to start a Sharing Garden in Illinois. Our response follows: Hello :0) My Name is Angelica T.  I live in Illinois. I just saw your video on youtube with Peakmoment. My Boyfriend and I have grown most of our own veggies for 3 years now. I work at a school in the Cafe so I have the summers off, unless I find a summer job. We are always talking about the un-used land just sitting there with grass and lots if sun. I LOVE the Garden Sharing idea. I have Lots of spots in mind and would LOVE your help. Please tell me how to go about it. I think it might be to late this year but I could get the ground ready and fences up for next year. I have no idea on how I would go about applying for a grant or any of it. Oh Please help me. When I was young I wanted to change the world, if you were to help I think we might. Thanks for reading Angie :0)

Hi Angie - So great to hear from you! Your enthusiasm is like wind in our sails! The need for local communities to become empowered to grow their own food and save seed is becoming more important than ever. It is also imperative that we move beyond the profit motive when it comes to feeding the people of the world. "Sharing Gardens" give people a non-threatening way to build a sense of community, learn important skills, eat healthier, live lighter on the planet and have fun doing it!

We will help you as much as we are able.

Chris and I started small: the first year we did about 95% of the gardening, fence-building etc. ourselves. The second year is when we began bringing in more volunteer help. Don't know if your project will follow the same pattern but don't be discouraged if you have a small group involved at first. If everyone is aligned and committed you will probably get more done than if you have a large, loose group of people who aren't fully on-board.

You will want to find a local non-profit agency to be your "fiscal agent". This means you can apply for grants through them. They will then distribute the grant monies to you as you provide receipts for your spending. If you write a grant that includes a stipend for you and other coordinators, it is possible to be compensated somewhat for your time.

I would encourage you to find a site to begin developing (as you said...). Then you'll be ready for planting next spring. You might also wish to start a Blog or Facebook fan page so you can document your experience and keep others informed.

Be of good cheer! Keep us posted on your progress.

Llyn (and Chris)

We are developing a second Blog-site which is focused more on teaching people how to get their own SG's started, and on garden tips. It is at www.thesharinggardens.blogspot.com

Giver's Gallery, Gratitude and Updates

Lettuce ready for planting - April 2011

We've been watching the dramatic weather world-wide; floods, droughts, tornadoes, hurricanes, heat waves and record snows! It seems more important than ever to be helping people learn this basic skill of growing food while building community ties amongst neighbors. We are very grateful for the surge of support that has come to us since we lost greenhouse access and the big grant we applied for. All told, we received close to $2,000 in donations from people near and far. We have also received materials donations and the warming weather here in the Pacific NW has brought out droves of volunteers, both new faces and familiar friends from last year.

Our garden "palette" to choose from - May 2011

We have been moving forward in faith, trusting that there is some greater purpose to recent events. We don't want to miss it by wallowing in regret or judgment. We feel on-purpose again and happy to honor the commitments we have for growing food for those in need, and continuing to develop this model of gardening that builds community and helps increase local food security. We have some exciting prospects calling us forward and are freeing-up our energies to pursue those. Thank you to everyone for your wise words and all the ways you have shown us that this program matters to you. It has really helped.

A few highlights since our last post:

Jan with lettuce for the Food Bank

Harvest has begun: We've begun to harvest from the gardens! The cool, wet spring has been very good for our lettuce and kale. Volunteers have been taking home as much as they can eat, we took thirty lettuce-heads to the food bank last week and another twenty to the Monroe Legion Hall: they serve lunch to seniors twice a week and appreciate the fresh vegetables we're able to provide. The seniors take home whatever isn't used in the lunches. This week's lettuce harvest was over 40 heads!

Llyn with spring's bounty!

Straw delivery: We are extremely grateful to Mark Frystak, a resident of Monroe who saw our recent wishlist posted in the Tribune News and came through with 55 bales of straw for us to begin to mulch the gardens. Everyone agrees that the straw makes the garden look so tidy, volunteers love the dry comfort of weeding from straw paths and the worms, snakes and other garden-friendly wildlife appreciate the food and shelter it provides. We can still use much more straw, and will continue to have need all through the season. We used about 10 tons last year and had about a third less garden in cultivation. If you know of anyone with bales to donate, we can probably arrange for pick-up. Here's a link to our full wish-list.

A-Frame - tomato cages with mulch on the paths

Young people in the garden: The last day of school is June 10 but we're already receiving lots of help from some of the local young people. Weeding, mulching, planting seeds and transplanting starts...all these tasks provide meaningful activity and fun in a town without much else to do after school. One afternoon last week we had five kids stop by; some just to visit, and others to help out.

Seth and Ricardo take lettuce home to their families after helping us mulch the garden paths

Volunteers: We've got some new faces and many of the core group of volunteers coming back from last year. Today we had five people helping with the harvest and other tasks. These included Pastor Mark Peterson from the nearby Monroe Church of Christ, Jim and Cindy Kitchen who are the coordinators for a garden modeled after the Sharing Gardens, in Corvallis and Larry Winiarski who went above and beyond the call of duty and patiently took apart our donated lawnmower that hasn't been working at all this season. He finally sleuthed out the problem and got her running! Now maybe our garden paths won't look quite so shaggy. Thanks to all the rest of you who have been coming out to help.

Jan, spreading mulch

Jennifer and Llyn planting tomatoes

Larry (the lawnmower doctor) starting seeds at the Monroe garden

The gardens are starting to take shape. We've been preparing beds and planting almost every day. Here are some pictures of the garden's progress:

"Butter Crunch" lettuce

Pepper plants interspersed with red lettuce. The lettuce will be harvested before the peppers get too big.

Much thanks too to all the people bringing us your used pots and flats. We're glad to give them new life. Phyllis Derr has been calling us to pick up her lawn clippings in Monroe. We use them to mulch. We've received financial donations since our last post from Jennie and Kris Rhoads, Craig Erken, Karen Josephson, Angee Costa and Chuck and Betty Conway. And thanks to Steve Rose who, once again has grown hundreds of tomato starts which he gives away to food-bank recipients, volunteers and provides us with the surplus at the Sharing Gardens. 

It looks like we'll have quite a few extra tomatoes to give away. First come, first served. Stop on by the Monroe garden during volunteer times if you'd like to take some home to your own garden.