It's harvest time
Dan Whipple, 3, tries to pry loose a stubborn cabbage plant last Friday at the community garden in Polson.
Jason Buffington, 6, shows off the community garden's massive zucchini last Friday evening as Cub Scout Pack 4947 helped members of the community harvest the garden's crops.
Ethan Buffington and Russell Smith, both 10, help with Cub Scout Pack 4947 to harvest crops from the community garden last Friday evening in Polson.
POLSON - It's harvest time at the Polson community garden, but master gardener Kelly Ware insists gardening season is just now beginning for next year.
"We are hoping to expand the garden this fall and are welcoming people to plant the dark leafy greens that come up in the snow," she said.
Last Friday afternoon, Cub Scout Pack 4947 met to pick the summer's bountiful harvest. With the help of members of the church and seeral families, the boys pulled, picked and snipped 91 pounds of raw food, which they donated to the food bank Saturday morning. The soup kitchen's Friday night meals have already benefited greatly from the garden. In total, they should receive well over 200 pounds of food this fall, Ware estimates.
"We had majorly underestimated when we thought there would be about 50 pounds [on Friday]," cub scout mom and gardener Christi Buffington said.
A true "community" endeavor, the Polson garden came about last April when the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church decided to donate its seven-acre backyard to the cause. Several local businesses stepped up to give materials and a slew of volunteers from groups like the Cub Scouts, vacation bible camp and the Polson soccer team stopped by to labor in the soil. One July day in particular saw 33 volunteers combine to power through the grunt of the labor associated with a "no-dig, no-till" permaculture straw bed garden.
Instead of digging and tilling the ground, planters simply layered newspaper, cardboard, straw, bone meal and blood meal on top of one another. Plants were inserted into the mixture and watered throughout the summer months. Trusting the unfamiliar technique, Buffington said the potatoes were buried right under a heap of straw.
"We didn't know how it would turn out," she said. "But it worked and they look great."
Located on the south side of the church parking lot, all the land along the Carol Sherick walking trail is open and available for planting, Ware said. Someday, the dream is to have many smaller themed gardens with fruit trees and herbs, maintained by dedicated groups of families and organizations. Ware even hopes to teach raw food classes, adding to the already conducted organic gardening and permaculture class that takes place Saturday morning at the Aware Wellness Center in Polson.
"We're really looking for people to donate cardboard, straw, wood chips, bark and leaves," Ware said. "Fencing, posts, plastic greenhouses, plants and trees... all of it. We're going to totally re-design the garden for next year."