Thanks to Andy, Heather, and Johanna we had a wonderful church picnic on September 8! Here are a few pictures from the picnic.
COMMUNITY GARDEN UPDATE september/october 2024
COMMUNITY GARDEN UPDATE july/august 2024
COMMUNITY GARDEN UPDATE MAY/JUNE 2024
COMMUNITY GARDEN UPDATE April 2024
COMMUNITY GARDEN UPDATE march 2024
COMMUNITY GARDEN UPDATE february 2024
February 6, 2024
THERE’S A NEW MAN IN TOWN!
If you scroll down to the first entry on this page from Rev. David Morelli “WORKING TOGETHER TO FEED WOODBURN” you will learn about the beginnings of the Community Garden. For the past several years, the Community Garden had been managed by Linda Johnston, a retired school teacher. She considered the Community Garden her legacy and she proved it when she left the Community Garden in her will. When she got sick and could no longer work in the garden, there were few volunteers to step up. Many in the First Presbyterian Church are senior citizens and while they may have the time, they don’t necessarily have the desire or capability to commit to working weekly in the garden. Fortunately, God had a plan…
Andy Brophy moved here with his family from California. He heard about the Community Garden and was looking for a box or two to rent. He happened to come to the church when there was a Teacher Appreciation Tea going on and he inquired about renting a box. He was told that if he was willing to work in the garden, he might not have to pay for a box. While he didn’t get to meet Linda Johnston before she passed away, he did share emails and learned of her vision for the garden. Andy also connected with the Marion Polk Food Share as the garden has provided fresh produce since its inception to the Food Share. One of the hopes for Andy is to share Linda’s passion for children and continue engaging the preschoolers connected with First Presbyterian Church by giving them seeds to learn to grow flowers and vegetables.
There have been volunteers show up to help with irrigation, donating tomatoes, flower bulbs, and some just to sit and enjoy the garden. In just the first 4-5 months Andy worked the garden, along with help from his family, 1013 pounds of food has been donated to the Marion Polk Food Share.
Andy has big dreams for the Community Garden. Flowers have been planted in between the vegetables to bring the bees in for pollinating and for the beauty. If you would like to volunteer in the Community Garden, please contact Andy at jhhhgg2659@gmail.com or the pastor at First Presbyterian Church, Rev. Cynthia at revcynthiaobrien@gmail.com. You may also see Andy’s presentation to the church from the YouTube Video on our website by clicking here.
COMMUNITY GARDEN UPDATE JANUARY 2022
January 30, 2022
The First Presbyterian Community Garden is a partnership with Marion Polk Food Share to provide fresh produce to the local AWARE Food Bank, Meals on Wheels and gardening space for Head Start, Family Building Blocks and other community members.
The community garden is about thanksgiving. This congregation faithfully continues to provide the space and water for a very productive garden and the opportunity for the community to participate. We are thankful that we have six regulars assisting in the garden. Each has a special gift! Kathy built trellises for our tomatoes and other climbing vegetables. Walt has cleared and tilled areas to plant vegetables, flowers and shrubs and that includes walkways to access all of our spaces. He also moves compost and wood chips when needed. Sam has become an expert at planting, weeding and picking produce, especially basil. Roger and Vickie joined us to pack produce following the fire at the food bank. Packaging allowed all of our fresh produce to stay in Woodburn. They also helped rake and remove leaves in the garden. We have a long list of volunteers. Some whose names we know and others whose names are unknown to us. We are very thankful for Linda who is dedicated to this wonderful food outreach helping the community of Woodburn.
Many thanks come back to us from those community members who are able to grow their own gardens.
- From Meals on Wheels which uses our fresh fruit in their meals
- From the kids who plant and pick peas, pick and eat strawberries and raspberries
- From the kids who are amazed at sunflowers and how tall they grow
- For the salsa making ingredients the garden provided for our kid and adult community
- Most important of all, the thanks from the hundreds of food bank clients who received our over 1100 pounds of fresh garden produce. The lettuce and peppers were the best!
Neighbors Growing Fresh Food for Neighbors
The Community Garden is located on the Woodburn Presbyterian Church property near the corner of Boones Ferry and 214, across the street from French Prairie Middle School. Volunteers come together to grow fresh food to be donated to the Food Bank. Garden plots are also available for groups and individuals. Please email Rev. Cynthia O’Brien to express interest, or stop by the church on Sundays at 12:30p and chat with folks during our coffee time.
2014 Community Garden Blog Updates :
September 2014 We had 20 boy scouts and their parents harvest on the 11th. They picked 350 pounds; peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, squash and cucumbers. Individual volunteers continue to work on the garden and pick corn and tomatoes.
August 2014
Our garden has reached the major-production phase. The food we are churning out is beautiful. We have cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, yellow summer squash, cucumbers, sweet and hot peppers, tomatoes and beans. The photo above doesn’t include the beans, but last Monday we picked two of these large boxes full of beans!!
To keep up with this bounty we have scheduled weekly harvest gatherings. Monday mornings at 8:00 a.m., folks are gathering to pick vegetables and enjoy the community. Adults and children are participating. It is a fun time.
The delivery to the food bank is also a treat. The staff there are so amazed and grateful. They take our boxes into their pantry and distribute it to hungry individuals and families.
We grew, harvested and delivered 4,980 pounds of food to Woodburn’s Aware Food Bank in 2014.
Working Together to Feed Woodburn
By Rev. David Morelli, former pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Woodburn
October 2013
There is a story that circulates in my preaching journals from time to time illustrating the difference between heaven and hell. Both ‘places’ had a large banquet table with all the food one could imagine.
In the ‘down’ place people were hungry, wailing and crying, though all this food was set before them. The problem: Each person had a spoon with a handle so long that they could take the food from the platter, but they could not get it into their mouth.
At the ‘up’ place there was a table set, all the food one could imagine, and each person had a spoon with a handle so long that they could not put the food in their mouth.
The difference between heaven and hell: In heaven people were working together feeding each other.
The community garden at the Presbyterian Church on Boones Ferry Road is an example of working together to feed each other.
Now in its fourth year the origins are starting to fade and I would like to share the beginnings of this community garden on Boones Ferry Road
It began like this. Beth Balaban, the meal site coordinator who uses the church for Meals on Wheels, approached me to ask if the church would allow them to use some of the property for a garden. A small plot was tilled and planted inside the fence in the back of the church.
The next year we decided to expand the garden to the property east of the north parking lot. This was a little less than an acre and seemed overwhelming. How were we going to handle those long handled spoons?
I received a call from Janet, of the Marion-Polk Food Share in Salem, who had heard we might have a garden and she said if the church provided the property, she would get the people to help. We scheduled a meeting and she delivered as promised.
Warde Hershberger, then coordinator of the AWARE Food Bank, Ian Niktab, the current coordinator of the community gardens in Woodburn, Jack from Al’s Garden Center, Nanette Shepherd and others from the Woodburn Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Dalila Ortiz, who was then working for Neuvo Amanecer, Pastor Edy from the Hispanic church, and Jerry Yoder from the Presbyterian Church were all present at this meeting.
We developed an action plan. The land was to be divided with half the property for the community garden and half the property divided into 30 plots, 8 feet by 17 feet for individual families. Warde Hershberger contacted Woodburn Landscaping, which laid 400 feet of irrigation pipe. Warde also plowed the field. Wilbur Ellis and Coelho Dairy provided fertilizer and Al’s Garden donated the plants. When it came time to plant, members of the LDS church were there in large numbers. Also giving a helping hand were members of the Hispanic church, Presbyterian Church and those named above from the original committee.
As the summer went by and the weeds grew alongside the plants the majority of the ‘caretaking’ was done by the LDS church and a select few people who would come and weed.
As the various plants were ready for harvest, Nanette Shepherd led the group in harvesting the garden. This past year three people not mentioned above made it possible to keep up with the weeds and the harvest. The past two years Dean Herndon, contacted through the meal site, took a personal interest in the garden, and he, along with Nanette, took the lead in weeding and harvesting the garden. Helen Abel, also from the meal site, was another garden angel who took special care of the onions this year, and, Don Fackrell took time during his lunch hour every day to come and weed the garden. At harvest, those long handled spoons reached out to the food bank with more than 3,000 pounds of produce. This year, more 3,500 pounds was delivered to the food bank.
Advice: We gain knowledge of growing practices from a gardening website titled Grow Great Vegetables.