The Olympia Seedling Network
The Wendell Berry Community Garden
A community comes together to educate gardeners, share knowledge and feed ourselves and those in need.
The Wendell Berry Community Garden - Please scroll to the bottom of the page for updates. All events can be seen on the Events Calendar page tab above.

The Wendell Berry Community Garden is a project that seems to have been destined to happen.

Germinating from a simple, elegant idea it has grown into a vital community project that draws on the resources of local volunteers, neighborhood and the city support and the time, passion and sweat of people who love to garden and be of service to others.

The WBCG has no specific political, religeous or commercial affliiation.

Early this year a member of the Bigelow neighborhood on the east side of Olympia, donated the use of a large parcel of land for use as a community garden.

After acquiring a small grant from The City of Olympia and bringing together community members the project will break ground on April 25th, 2009!

The WBGC has brought together the talent and resources of several groups including GRUB, The Olympia Seed Exchange, The Olympia Seedling Network, City of Olympia, Northeast Neighborhood Association, The Evergreen State College, Kiwanas Club, Sustainable South Sound and The Thurston County Food Bank.

Collective Membership
The final agreement made was that in order to be a member of the Garden Collective individuals need to commit to a minimum of 4 hours per week in the garden.  TJ drafted a commitment form that collective members have signed acknowledging this.

A copy can be seen at the bottom of this web page.

Collective Members
The following 13 people have returned signed forms and have committed to collective membership: Noah Silber Coats, Tim McLeod, Carolyn Scafidi, Kyle Taylor Lucas, Stephanie Johnson, TJ Johnson, Caitlin Moore, John O’Brien, Quita Terrell, Sylvia Behrend, Sejd Behrend, Chris Hyde, Kim Chaplin.  Jeanine McGann, Willa Ahlschwede and Kate Savkovich have indicated plans to join, but agreements have not yet been received.  Teresa Winstead is considering and will decide by April 14.  The deadline for collective membership is April 15. 

Stewardship Council
Garden operations will be overseen by a Stewardship Council which is a smaller group made up of collective members.  The preliminary members of the Stewardship Council are Caitlin Moore, John O’Brien, Chris Hyde, Sylvia Behrend, Carolyn Scafidi, TJ Johnson

Garden Planning
The planning group led by Caitlin has met twice and completed the basic garden plan. It includes:

   * 5% of the area for seed saving demonstration
   * 20% of the area for summer cover crop
   * 20% of the area for greenhouse crops
   * 55% of the area for row crops

Volunteers
Anyone who wants to volunteer in the garden but not join the collective will be required to sign a waiver form before working.  TJ is drafting the form.  Volunteers will only be allowed in the garden during the hours when the garden is “open” to the public, and when a member of the collective is present.

Vegetable Allocation
The group identified all of the crops we could potentially grow, which included: corn, peas, tomatoes, green beans, shelling beans, peppers, soybeans, melons, squash, eggplant, beets, brassicas, asian greens, cover crops, strawberries, artichokes, Jerusalem artichokes, rhubarb, basil, spinach, arugula, asparagus, potatoes, daikons, carrots, leeks, lettuce, collards, chard, sweet potatoes, garlic, onions, cucumbers, dill, cilantro, chives, fennel, marigolds, nasturtiums, sunflowers, onions

The group then ranked its top crops, which resulted in: cucumbers, corn, peas, green beans, shelling beans, squash, tomatoes, melons, eggplants, peppers, basil.  In addition, potatoes, beets and cabbage will be grown for the food bank.  The greenhouse will be used to grow the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and melons.  The rest will be grown outdoors.

Next we determined the amount of space to be allocated to each variety of each crop.  The results were:

Eggplant – 1/2 asian, 1/2 non-asian
Shell beans – a variety, as determined by Caitlin
Beets – 1 type
Cabbage -   2/3 purple, 1/3 green
Potatoes –  1/2 keepers. 1/2 eaters
Onions – ½ keepers, ½ eaters
Basil – ½ Italian, ½ Thai
Peas – ½ snap, ¼ snow, ¼ shell
Corn – ½ yellow, ½ white
Tomatoes – 2/3 sauce/paste, 1/3 slicing
Beans – 2/3 bush (3/4 green. ¼ yellow), 1/3 pole
Cucumbers – ½ pickling, ½ slicing
Peppers – 2/3 sweet (2/3 of these bell, 1/3 non-bell) 1/3 hot
Melons – ½ cantaloupe, ¼ honeydew, ¼ watermelon
Summer squash – ½ crookneck, ½ zucchini & yellow
Winter squash – ¼ butternut, ¼ delicate, 1/8 acorn, 1/8 pumpkin, 1/8 kubocha, 1/8 spaghetti

After compiling the list TJ noted that because of the lateness of the season and availability of seed we may not be able to completely honor the allocation identified.

The group also decided to allocate 20% of the total area to summer cover crop, 5% to a Seed Exchange demonstration plot, and the rest for worker/food bank harvest.

Notes on Decision Making
As we are in the early stages of development we decided that some small  changes may be made as the project progresses. Major decisions will be approved by the collective. But some "executive decisions" that do not effect the garden in a drastic way may be made in order to streamline the decison making process.

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Garden Collective Member Agreement
I willingly agree to become a member of the  Wendell Berry Garden Collective.  I understand that by agreeing to join the collective I am committing to a minimum of 4 hours per week of work in the garden through the 2009 growing season.  I agree to keep track of my commitment and record my volunteer hours in the log book which will be kept at the garden.  In exchange for my commitment, I understand I will be eligible for an equitable share of the harvest, and that I will have a voice in all significant decisions about the garden.

Further, I agree that any injuries I sustain while acting as a member of the collective are my sole responsibility, and that neither the landowners,  Sustainable South Sound, nor any other individual or organization bears any responsibility or liability.

__________________________________________
Name
__________________________________________
Signature
__________________________________________
Date

Hello gardeners.



Caitlin has finished the crop list for our community garden.  Now, its time to determine who can supply what plants or seeds.

Please look at the list below, and respond to me as soon as possible but not later than this Friday, April 25th.

The table is set up in three columns.  The first is the type of vegetable.  The second is the type or variety.  For example, under tomato we have “sauce” and “slicing”.  The third column tells us how many plants we need to wind up with.  For example, 30 sauce tomatoes, 15 slicing tomatoes, etc.

So, for example if you can supply 30 sauce tomato plants please send me a message telling me that.  It would be great if you could be specific about the variety, such as “I can supply 30 striped roman sauce tomato plants” or “I can supply 15 Oregon spring slicing tomato plants”.

Because we are so late into the season, some thing cannot be grown from seed and we actually need plants to transplant.  This includes tomatoes, basil, eggplant, peppers.  The rest of the crops can be grown from seed.

Once we have determined what plants/seeds we can source from within our group, then we will know what we have left to get through donations or purchase from local nurseries.



Please let me know if you have any questions.

The Table Tomat sauce 30

Slicing 15

Basil Italian/sweet 22

Siam/thai 22

Watermelon sugar baby 8

Eggplant millionaire 30

Dusky 30

Peppers sweet bell 20

Sweet non-bell 10

Hot 15

cover crop

Corn white/Stowells 104

Yellow/Golden Bantam 104

W. Squash Bush Delicata 6

Spaghetti 6

Butternut 6

Gold nugget 6

S. Squash yellow crookneck 6

Black beauty zucchini 6

Pole Beans Kentucky wonder 208

Blue Lake Pole 208

Shell Beans soup beans 104

Yellow Beans bush beans 104

Pickling cucumber homemade pickles 26

Slicing cucumber marketmore 97

green cabbage  steins late 13

red cabbage 26

Keeper potatoes Yukon Gold 52

Eater potatoes 52

Beets mixed variety 312

Onion storage Copra 52

Fresh Walla Walla 52

**************UPDATED April 26, 2009***********************

Garden Preparation

On Friday we laid out all of the beds and paths.  On Saturday we distributed 260 pounds of soil amendments across the area, then spread all 46+ yards of compost the city delivered onto the beds (with a big pile left over).  On Sunday we tilled the amendments and compost into the beds, raked everything out, and cleaned up the perimeter.  We also transported the fence posts to the site and marked locations for all of the posts and the fence gates.  Dick Walrod turned the pump on yesterday, so we now have water.

Seeds and Starts

Thanks to all who responded to last week’s request.  If you volunteered seeds, please bring them on Saturday.  The things we have not yet secured are:

Starts
Thai basil (22)

Eggplants (30 regular, 30 asian)

Sweet pepper (10 non-bell)

Pickling cukes (26)

Eating spuds (52)

Keeping spuds (52)

Storage onions (52)

Spaghetti Squash (6)



Seeds
Corn ( 208)

Cover Crop

Pole beans (208)

Soup beans (104)

Bush Beans (104)

Unless someone tells me by Friday that they can source these things I will plan to purchase those with the city grant funds.

Finance
We have received $210 in member contributions.  If you have not yet made your contribution, please make arrangements with TJ to do so.  We have also begun to incur some costs and need to begin to reimburse people who are putting out money.  We expect to have final word on the city sustainability grant tomorrow.



This WeeK
Now that we have prepared the beds, it is important to begin monitoring for weeds and grass seeking to establish a foothold.  If you want to put time into the garden over the next few days, stop by and check/pull weeds in the beds or paths.

Schedule
Its time to start organizing a schedule of when people are available to work so we can plan start thinking about hours the garden will be open, etc. TJ will bring an availability form on Saturday for everyone to fill out, so bring whatever information you need to complete the form including days/weeks you know you are NOT available (like planned vacations, camping trips, etc).

Operations
For those of you that did not make it this weekend, all tools are being kept in the shed around the corner from the back of the garden.  We have some tools that have been donated and will stay on-site permanently, and some that people left over the weekend that will eventually find their way home.  There is also a notebook in the shed that has some basic information and sheet for logging your work hours.  Please make sure to mark down any hours worked in the book so we can track commitments.  Also, for those of you who were not there this weekend Silvia has compiled notebook of information for each person.  If you did not get your notebook yet plan to do so on Saturday.


Thanks for checking out Chris Hyde online.  The place to get information about everything Chris Hyde
Thanks for checking out Chris Hyde online.  The place to get information about everything Chris Hyde