A Garden Is Born

Pastor Mike Lawrence

It has been several months in the making, and the community garden at North Eugene Faith Center is born! We waited patiently for our friend, Sam to arrive with his tractor, and disc a small section of the field for us. After hauntingly wet weather in May, and June, and a broken piece to the tractor replaced, Sam was finally able to get ‘er done. Thank you, Sam!

Pastor Mike Lawrence graciously sought out 30 cubic yards of ‘green’ compost for us to blanket the 150’X30′ section of soil behind the church. It was just enough to make for wonderfully deep beds on the south side of the field.

Amanda and Nels Blaze a Trail

A small team of volunteers arrived early Saturday morning with gloves, shovels, rakes, coffee, and delicious muffins (thank you Amanda!). When we arrived we were met by the giant pile of compost, and the hero of the day, Sam, rolling around in his tractor with a bucket full of the ‘black gold’, strategically dropping huge piles around the prepared section. With Sam busy behind the bucket, Nels and Amanda Hvass, Amanda Halleman and Derek Brandow shuttled down the road to acquire two truck loads of ‘help yourself’ wood-chips, compliments of The City Of Eugene. The wood chips helped to create walkways, and defining edges around 8 small garden plots.

With compost, and wood-chip walkways in place, some folks shuttled off to gather started vegetables at local farms, while others dipped into the warm soil to nestle the starts already bought. We were graced by a cameo appearance by Andrea Vegh who delivered several more vegetable trays she had uncovered in the magical way she finds free things. Thank you Andrea! With high noon approaching, it was time to clean up, turn on the sprinklers, and let the newly planted delights settle down for the day, and ease into the evening.

Humble Beginnings

We were able to establish 8 plots, with almost half of the prepared space left wide open for other families interested in participating, or simply to plant a large section of corn for a late harvest. Whatever may come of the space, it will be exciting to see it evolve soon.

We Are Off And Running

May 13th we had a great meeting at North Eugene Faith Center to discuss the coming community garden in the field just west of the church. We unpacked a grand vision to transform this space from its humble state, to a place alive with growing things (people and plants). The group discussed several ideas for the space:

Garden/Compost education center
Composting station
Worm farm
Play area/Kids garden
Vineyard
Rain water cistern
Water tower
Straw bale wall/buildings
Creative raised beds (possible for people with disabilities)
Orchard
Sign
Wedding garden
Community gathering space
Fountain
Outdoor kitchen
Creating Jobs
Chickens
Bees
Bathroom
Greenhouse
Mushroomery

Additionally, we kicked around several names for the space which included:

North Eugene Community Garden
River Road Community Garden
Santa Clara Community Garden
River Avenue Community Garden
Giving Garden
North Eugene Family Garden
Living Soil Garden
Garden Of Life
Garden of Weedin’

We decided as a group, to move ahead with the name, Garden of Weedin’. If you were not at the meeting, or had to leave before we began the name conversation, please feel free to contribute suggestions for a name by leaving a comment below. Garden of Weedin’ as our ‘working name’ for the time being. It would be nice to allow others to offer suggestions in the coming days. Let names keep ruminating with you, and offer ideas as the come.

Joel was able to track down 5-55gallon food grade barrels. We are going to work to create a rain water catchment system to help supplement our water this summer. If you are interested in playing along in this adventure to catch rain water, email Joel at joel@enewday.org

Per Mike’s commitment, we should have a large area turned over in the coming days which will allow for us to carve out some small gardening spaces for people who want to bootstrap it this season. Additionally there will be a large area we will sow with Corn, Pumpkins, or something else we can give back to the people living in the area. Can you say “corn feed at the end of the summer”? We should move forward with the expectation that this space will probably look very different next year, and in subsequent years, and this is a good thing. All this to say, what ever space we have to work with this year will be different next year.

Bethany also committed to identify a whole bunch of compost her family has available. I believe Bethany said there were 3- 10’X10’X4′ containers available to us. We will need to coordinate a time to pick that up and deliver it, spread it, and plant it in the coming weeks.

I hope you are all excited! This is going to be a beautiful addition to the community in North Eugene, serving the people who live there in so many ways. Thank you for choosing to participate, and learn with the rest of us.