The Modern Victory Garden

Giving Garden

Since mid May, I have been working every Saturday morning at the Kingston Farm and Garden Co-op Giving Garden.   It is located at Farrago Farm and Vineyard about 4 miles west of Kingston, Washington (Kitsap County).   The Giving Garden is the product of donated resources (use of the land to grow on, seeds, plants, organic fertilizer and other supplies, tools, fencing materials, etc) and volunteer hours from many people.   The purpose of the garden is to provide organically grown produce for our local food bank and schools.                                             

Working with what we have (or can acquire through donations), this hard working group of people has transformed a bare field into a working garden that should provide some real abundance for the benefit of others.         

It is certainly not all work though; we manage to have a perfectly good time together!   In fact, these are some of the nicest folks you could choose to spend several hours with each week.   Kathy and Paul (who host the garden on their land) always make everyone feel welcome and do more than their share of the weekly work of the garden.   They keep a tent awning set up next to the garden, which provides a great place to take a break or to get out of the sun (or rain) for a bit.           

Kathy always supplies us with ice-cold water, fruit, cheese and crackers, and some cookies or other treats.   We are getting quite spoiled by her.          

One of our regular volunteers (Pete) puts in a great deal of work each week and never backs down from the more arduous tasks like cultivating the walkways, digging the planting rows with the broadfork, and digging up and removing some good sized rocks.   One of those rocks now resides at the side of the garden and has officially become “Pete’s Pet Rock”.                 

Kinley, his wife Patty, and their two young daughters are also regular volunteers.   I marvel at how they carve out time for this work when I can tell their lives are very full already.   The two girls really help out, but the thing I find most refreshing about them is that they remind us all that it is good to stay amazed and interested in things like dried up dead snakes and wiggling worms.                             

In addition to these "Regulars", we have a whole bunch of folks who pop in periodically and also help out.   Everyone's help is greatly appreciated!       

The garden is really coming along.   We have planted and growing – sugar snap peas; potatoes; sunflowers; bush beans; radishes; kale; swiss chard; beets; onions; zucchini; peppers; tomatoes (lots of them!); broccoli; cucumbers; pumpkins; and winter squash.                         

We are using wide-row gardening for the most part and are making use of donated tomato cages, plastic mulch, irrigation lines, and bamboo (from Pete’s home garden).   Here’s a sample of how the garden is growing.           

Potatoes

Wide Row of Bush Beans

Some of the Tomatoes

Zucchini

A View of the Rest of the Tomatoes (we had alot of them donated!)

Bainbridge Barter

Recently I received an email from Scott (Opt Out En Masse) informing me that he and several other folks have started up a new Bainbridge Barter  on Bainbridge Island (also Kitsap County Washington).   Scott has an excellent blog that covers topics related to living life in a more sustainable fashion - particularly in a world that has diminishing access to cheap fossil fuels.   The barter is in keeping with that and something that really makes sense to me.   It allows you to use your surplus and acquire something you do not have – all without the exchange of cash and with a minimum of fuss.   They do this at 9 am on Saturdays at the waterfront park on Bainbridge Island (near the ferry).   I have not yet attended but plan to work this in to my schedule soon.   I will have to hustle to attend the barter at 9 am and still get to Kingston and the Giving Garden by 10 am to put in my regular volunteer time, but I think I can manage it.            

If you live in my general area, I would encourage you to join us in these worthwhile pursuits.    If you do not live near me, I hope you can find similar community actions in your own area that you can become a part of too.          

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener