Cary Peterson (far right) with some Tibetan friends, during her travels
Good Cheer work party Saturday February 28th
Before Cary Peterson ever got the job as Garden Coordinator for Good Cheer Food Bank's new garden at Bayview the rumors were circulating, "People would come up to me and ask me if I was making a garden for the food bank. Ever since Good Cheer bought the property at Bayview it has been an idea. The whole community can say they started this garden."
It was during a talk Peterson had with Good Cheer's Executive Director, Kathy McLaughlin, where the idea for a Food Bank Garden became a reality. As Peterson puts it, her new job was a "match made by the community." After that she put in a plan for the new garden to the board of directors at Good Cheer and it was approved. Thus began her new endeavor with the Food Bank and the community.
Cary Peterson and I sat down last Saturday during a garden work party and talked about how her life-long values of sustainable living, community service, and love of the land led to her role as "garden coordinator" for the Good Cheer Food Bank. As coordinator, Peterson is in charge of organizing, education, planting, dealing with volunteers-- everything it takes to get the garden growing. Which is no easy or simple task.
It has taken many volunteers, work parties, and planning to get where they are now: a 1/4 acre of freshly tilled garden with walking paths and raised beds, boxed beds, U-pick raspberries, fruit trees, and a picnic area. Also in the works is a shed for volunteer headquarters and tools,
composting area, and a greenhouse. There will be a work party for the garden every Wednesday from 9 AM to 4 PM with a lunch break from 12 to 1. Anyone from the community is welcome. And you can bring your kids to help, as Peterson encourages parents to involve the whole family.
"It has come together like magic," Peterson says. People from the community have volunteered their time, expertise, and gardening equipment to get the garden to where it is now, all with the expectation of fresh organic produce for the food bank. On Peterson's garden blog (goodcheergarden.wordpress.com) she writes that, "growing fresh organic vegetables and fruit will provide nutritious produce directly to the food bank, increase food security and expand Good Cheer’s capacity to serve more people." Peterson plans to grow a variety of vegetables this year, with a focus on nutritious and easy to grow vegetables like carrots, lettuce, spinach, and other salad greens, chard, peas, beans, kale, beets, and squash. There will also be edible flowers, herbs, and tomatoes.
Peterson's love for the earth has attracted her to work where she can cultivate her passions. She has been a caretaker for the Chinook Learning Center (Whidbey Institute) and owned her own land care business. Now, she hopes to be of maximum benefit to others, as well as caring for the earth. Peterson is recently back from a trip to India, Nepal, Tibet, and China where she had time to reflect on the next step in her life. She spent a year and a half traveling and describes it as a "spiritual pilgrimage." She learned that she wanted to put her lifelong values of compassion and service to others and the planet into action.
In an effort to transition to low carbon transport, Peterson plans to purchase a "cargo bicycle" that can carry her wheel barrow and other gardening tools. You may have seen her current work vehicle around town, a memorable small blue truck with flower beds in the back. Peterson describes herself as a "total bike freak" who has taken a 10,000 mile journey on a three- wheeled recumbent human powered vehicle. Her travels in India showed her how our society takes for granted the ease with which we travel in the U.S. and the toll it takes on the planet. Here, we expect to be able to get in our car and be somewhere in 10 minutes. In India, and other third world countries, the roads are narrow and the cars are much smaller and slower, and traveling takes more time. There are often animals, people, and vehicles in the roadway. Slowing down our pace of living, planning ahead when traveling, and using alternative means of transportation (like bicycles) are all part of Peterson's vision for lessening her dependency on carbon fuels.
As Good Cheer's Garden Coordinator she has also been able put her values of service to others and the planet to work. "A big part of the garden is about education," Peterson says, "Our focus is to grow the food and we'll have classes as we need them, opportunistically, to benefit the community and the garden." Some class ideas include cooking classes that teach people how to use their fresh vegetables, how to grow vegetables in containers, and assembling a compost tumbler. Peterson is working in conjunction with WSU master gardeners to put on the classes. Checkout her Food Bank Garden blog for class information: http://goodcheergarden.wordpress.com/classes/
Peterson's blog also includes a couple of interesting programs associated with the new garden and food bank: the "Gleaning" and "Grow a Row". The Gleaning program is for home gardeners & farmers who want to donate their extra produce to the Food Bank (contact Beverly Rose at bubbybev@whidbey.com). Thanks to a generous donation of seeds from Ed Hume Seed Company, Good Cheer has seeds to give to the community so people can "Grow a Row" for the food bank. Peterson's blog has updates on the garden, work parties, and even includes a "wish list" of needed items for the garden (composted manure, wheelbarrows, weeding tools, containers for growing, and raspberry starts).
It was during a talk Peterson had with Good Cheer's Executive Director, Kathy McLaughlin, where the idea for a Food Bank Garden became a reality. As Peterson puts it, her new job was a "match made by the community." After that she put in a plan for the new garden to the board of directors at Good Cheer and it was approved. Thus began her new endeavor with the Food Bank and the community.
Cary Peterson and I sat down last Saturday during a garden work party and talked about how her life-long values of sustainable living, community service, and love of the land led to her role as "garden coordinator" for the Good Cheer Food Bank. As coordinator, Peterson is in charge of organizing, education, planting, dealing with volunteers-- everything it takes to get the garden growing. Which is no easy or simple task.
It has taken many volunteers, work parties, and planning to get where they are now: a 1/4 acre of freshly tilled garden with walking paths and raised beds, boxed beds, U-pick raspberries, fruit trees, and a picnic area. Also in the works is a shed for volunteer headquarters and tools,
composting area, and a greenhouse. There will be a work party for the garden every Wednesday from 9 AM to 4 PM with a lunch break from 12 to 1. Anyone from the community is welcome. And you can bring your kids to help, as Peterson encourages parents to involve the whole family."It has come together like magic," Peterson says. People from the community have volunteered their time, expertise, and gardening equipment to get the garden to where it is now, all with the expectation of fresh organic produce for the food bank. On Peterson's garden blog (goodcheergarden.wordpress.com) she writes that, "growing fresh organic vegetables and fruit will provide nutritious produce directly to the food bank, increase food security and expand Good Cheer’s capacity to serve more people." Peterson plans to grow a variety of vegetables this year, with a focus on nutritious and easy to grow vegetables like carrots, lettuce, spinach, and other salad greens, chard, peas, beans, kale, beets, and squash. There will also be edible flowers, herbs, and tomatoes.
Peterson's love for the earth has attracted her to work where she can cultivate her passions. She has been a caretaker for the Chinook Learning Center (Whidbey Institute) and owned her own land care business. Now, she hopes to be of maximum benefit to others, as well as caring for the earth. Peterson is recently back from a trip to India, Nepal, Tibet, and China where she had time to reflect on the next step in her life. She spent a year and a half traveling and describes it as a "spiritual pilgrimage." She learned that she wanted to put her lifelong values of compassion and service to others and the planet into action.
In an effort to transition to low carbon transport, Peterson plans to purchase a "cargo bicycle" that can carry her wheel barrow and other gardening tools. You may have seen her current work vehicle around town, a memorable small blue truck with flower beds in the back. Peterson describes herself as a "total bike freak" who has taken a 10,000 mile journey on a three- wheeled recumbent human powered vehicle. Her travels in India showed her how our society takes for granted the ease with which we travel in the U.S. and the toll it takes on the planet. Here, we expect to be able to get in our car and be somewhere in 10 minutes. In India, and other third world countries, the roads are narrow and the cars are much smaller and slower, and traveling takes more time. There are often animals, people, and vehicles in the roadway. Slowing down our pace of living, planning ahead when traveling, and using alternative means of transportation (like bicycles) are all part of Peterson's vision for lessening her dependency on carbon fuels.
As Good Cheer's Garden Coordinator she has also been able put her values of service to others and the planet to work. "A big part of the garden is about education," Peterson says, "Our focus is to grow the food and we'll have classes as we need them, opportunistically, to benefit the community and the garden." Some class ideas include cooking classes that teach people how to use their fresh vegetables, how to grow vegetables in containers, and assembling a compost tumbler. Peterson is working in conjunction with WSU master gardeners to put on the classes. Checkout her Food Bank Garden blog for class information: http://goodcheergarden.wordpress.com/classes/
Peterson's blog also includes a couple of interesting programs associated with the new garden and food bank: the "Gleaning" and "Grow a Row". The Gleaning program is for home gardeners & farmers who want to donate their extra produce to the Food Bank (contact Beverly Rose at bubbybev@whidbey.com). Thanks to a generous donation of seeds from Ed Hume Seed Company, Good Cheer has seeds to give to the community so people can "Grow a Row" for the food bank. Peterson's blog has updates on the garden, work parties, and even includes a "wish list" of needed items for the garden (composted manure, wheelbarrows, weeding tools, containers for growing, and raspberry starts).
Good Cheer Food bank, Bayview
"Volunteer Enrollment Form"
garden planning: Cary (on the far left) and volunteers
In the foreground: a growing container, possibly for potatoes, one of many vegetables that grows well in a container
Scenes from the garden
Fruit trees mulched with straw (background) and garden beds-in-process
Some compost
topsoil
raspberry starts
greenhouse start (above)
some of the many seeds that have been donated, organized (above & below)
strawberries in box beds
work party day, picnic area
some of the raised beds, with string to mark their placement
box beds
Margaret O'Brien WSU Master Gardener-in-training
Heart Rock found in the garden
Cary points out where the vegetable washing station and greenhouse will be.
Bring the whole family . . . a dog relaxes during a work party
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