Saturday, June 27, 2009

Community garden fosters growth and cooperation

Valencia Community Gardens group organizes to educate and empower

Julia M. Dendinger News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jdendinger@news-bulletin.com

Los Lunas They've got mud on their shoes and dirt under their fingernails and they're proud of it. With summer well underway, a group of Valencia County citizens are waiting to enjoy the literal fruits of their labor.

The newly formed Valencia Community Gardens (VCG) group has been out in the fields since mid-March, amending soil and planting seeds and seedlings alike.

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Members of the VCG are interested in learning from each other about how to grow fresh, local, organic food, and as an educational organization are dedicated to empowering all gardeners to work in a spirit of cooperation and communication.

On a bright spring morning earlier this month, the elected officers of the recently incorporated group met at their community garden site just south of Los Lunas historically known as Valencia. Members came together through the Valencia County Action Network.

"When that group formed, they came up with the idea of a community garden as a service project," said VCG chair Rosemary Kaul. "We started meeting to plan the garden project in January."

The first priority was to find a location for planting — one with enough room and water supply. Several places seemed possible, but vice-chair Mark Rosenblum volunteered his property. With nearly an acre of vacant property that was formerly a 16-acre farm, Rosenblum's unused land was to become the site of great growth.

So with help from friends and community members, the garden began to take shape. Fogarty said the group received donations of seeds and plants from farmers and growers throughout the community. In addition, both Walmart and Home Depot have donated gift cards to the organization, which it has used to buy some tools and supplies for the garden. People have dropped off pots of trumpet vines and red hot pokers to add some color to the desert garden.

Joyce Johns, a VCG member, bought the banner for the garden location to let passing motorists know what all the activity was on the property.

Walter Dods with Soilutions, in Albuquerque's south valley, tilled the soil and helped improve the plots with compost, sand and gravel as well as assisting in creating paths using wood chips.

The Master Gardeners, through the Valencia County Extension Office, have also been a tremendous help, Fogarty said, with Nancy Erickson acting as a liaison between the two groups.

"It has just been incredible how much support this project has received," she said of the backing that goes all the way up to the governor's office. The group recently met with two representatives from Gov. Bill Richardson's office — Hazel Mella, with the Faith Based and Community Initiatives, and Tom Trujillo, with Engage New Mexico.

Fogarty said Mella and Trujillo conveyed the governor's interest in using VCG as a pilot program to promote organic gardening throughout New Mexico. In addition, the group has been offered space at the 2009 Conference on Aging at the Sandia Resort and Casino on Aug. 25-27, and an article about VCG will be published in the New Mexico Aging and Long-term Services Division newsletter.

While a good portion of the Los Lunas site is being used, Kaul said individual plot and a community plots are available, although the group would like to encourage the community plots due to water considerations. "But we do have more community plots anyway," she said. "I think because it's just more fun to work together."

As the officers tour the garden they point out plots with a wide array of plants including potatoes, ornamentals, peas, corn and lamb's quarters as well as fruit trees and a host of flowers.

One gardener has created what is called a "waffle" garden, an old Native American way of growing plants. The area is dug down just below ground level and a slight berm surrounds it. That way, any water put on the plants is retained in that small area to soak in and be utilized by just those plants.

Because there is only so much water available for irrigation on the property, the officers say eventually the Los Lunas site will be considered full. That is why they are hoping other communities throughout the county will take up the call to literally get back to their roots and start their own gardens.

But they won't be alone in doing it. "We can act as advisors and mentors for a neighborhood garden project," Fogarty said. "I think it is so important that people realize where their food comes from. There are a lot of people who are completely disconnected from that."

Debbie Christensen, VCG treasurer, said people should look around their neighborhood for a suitable location, and the group will help them get started. "Maybe an empty lot or someone's back yard," she said. The officers did emphasize that any site chosen for a community garden could only be used with the property owner's permission.

Another project the VCG is looking forward to later this year is the planting of native plants in several locations around the county. Kaul said many native plants have been donated to the group by Dr. David Dreesen of the USDA-NRCS Los Lunas Plant Materials Center.

"His facility donates plants for xeriscape demonstration gardens that will feature low water use native species," she said. The plants will tolerate drought, extreme heat and the hard freezes experienced in Valencia County.

These plants will be planted by VCG in the late summer or early fall on public land that will allow access by school field trips and other educational activities exploring the value of these native plants.

Native plants will be put in at the Peralta Village Hall and the El Cerro/Valencia Fire Station as well as at the Center for Ageless Living on N.M. 47 in Los Lunas and at the Tomé Gallery.

While both the gallery and Center for Ageless Living are private property, the property owners have agreed to allow public access for educational purposes, Kaul noted.

"That is one of the stipulations by Dr. Dreesen so we can get these plants," she said. "If someone wants to have a garden on their private property, and would rather not have the public in and out, they don't have to have the native plants."

Part of the public outreach and education with the native plants will include informational placards in the gardens explaining any traditional medicinal uses of the plants as well as general information about the native plants.

To give the growers further ownership in their plots, clay artist Jan Pacifico of Tomé Gallery has held several workshops in the techniques of making ollas.

"They are basically unglazed, clay vessels that you bury and then fill with water," she said. "The water is drawn out of the jar and into the soil to water the plants."

Ollas are an old watering technique in the southwest going back to the earliest Native American growers. Just about every plot in the garden features a buried jar marked with a whimsical topper — from pigs to birds.

While VCG members have worked out such details of labor as a watering schedule at the Los Lunas site, Kaul said the group always needs more labor and money.

"We have a lot of plans and a lot of ideas," Fogarty said. "We are looking at different grant programs for community garden programs."

Standing under the shade of a nearby elm, Rosenblum says what he likes most about this project is that is truly is a community effort. "Nobody is bossing anyone around," he said. "We work together and all the tasks are taken care of."

As the garden develops and grows, Kaul said they are hoping to share any extra produce harvested. The officers said they would like to get the fresh, local, organic foods into the hands of seniors.

Kaul said in the development of the garden they haven't used any pesticides and all the soil amendment has been done with organic materials.

"At some point, I realized, that as much as this project is about learning about how to grow the vegetables and flowers as organically as possibly, it's about doing something together," Kaul said.

"It might take a village to raise a child, but it takes a community to grow a garden."

Interested in becoming part of the community garden project? Every Sunday VCG hosts a potluck meeting at the garden site located at 55 Vegas Road in Los Lunas and welcomes the public. For more information, call Rosemary Kaul at 505-321-8394.

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