New garden brings neighbors together

By Brian Sandford | The Olympian • Published March 22, 2008

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OLYMPIA – Garden-Raised Bounty's installation of its second community garden Saturday provided fertile ground for volunteers to get to know their neighbors.

How to get involved

Residents of Evergreen Vista or Fern Ridge apartments who are interested in using Garden-Raised Bounty's new community garden should visit Paul Grudif at the Evergreen Vista community center.

Other gardens

• Sunrise Park: The Evergreen Gardens community garden is one of two that GRuB operates in Olympia. The other is at Sunrise Park, near Division Street Northwest, and is open to all west Olympia residents.

• Rochester: GRuB is looking at a third community-garden site, in Rochester, said co-director Blue Peetz. The group aims to look at possible sites in summer, then install the garden in the fall. GRub could instead opt to install individual gardens at residents' houses, he said.

For more information, call GRuB at 360-753-5522.

Ashley Monroe, 19, who has lived in the Evergreen Vista apartment complex for about 12 years, worked alongside her downstairs neighbor and at least 20 others during the installation at the complex, shoveling and spreading out soil.

"I never talked with him before today," said Monroe, a GRuB farm assistant.

The garden will serve low-income residents at the complex at 1209 Fern St. S.W., home to hundreds of residents. Now that boxes with soil have been assembled, residents likely will begin planting there within a week, GRuB co-director Blue Peetz said.

Residents signed up in advance for spots in the 21-bed garden, and they are responsible for watering and maintenance.

The project is a product of planning work that GRuB completed with the Thurston County Food Bank two years ago, according to GRuB. Using food bank data, GRuB identified neighborhoods where the highest concentration of food bank clients lived.

Evergreen Vista previously had a community garden, but it was removed because of the effects of runoff after the complex was expanded about a year ago, Blue said.

On Saturday, volunteers worked from about 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. in a courtyard surrounded by apartments on three sides.

Barbara Linzy, who has lived at the complex for about eight years, said she became acquainted with three women she didn't know during the installation.

Her son, Nathan, 11, is looking forward to enjoying the fruits of Saturday's labor. The food will be especially appealing, he said, "because I'm the one who grew it, and I know what's been on it."

Brian Sandford is The Olympian's night city editor. He can be reached at 360-754-5425 or bsandford@theolympian.com.