Community Gardens marks end of season

74 plots rented and organizers consider options for fund-raising to finance program in future years

MOSES LAKE — Dave Fournier loves to garden.

It is one reason he got involved in the Community Gardens three years ago.

The other reason is because it was conveniently located across the street from the office where he works for the City of Moses Lake.

Fournier is just one gardener of a total of 74 who rented a plot this season; most are now being cleaned out for the winter months.

The Community Gardens is a component of Healthy Communities, a project funded by the Department of Health and Centers for Disease Control. The Moses Lake Breastfeeding Coalition and the Projects Trail Planning Team make up the other thirds of the project. Moses Lake began Healthy Communities in 2002 in an effort to curb obesity and encourage healthy lifestyle habits.

Gardener Ellie Chadwick had five plots between herself and her son this season.

In the hot summer months, 80-year-old Chadwick would get up early to water her plots at 6:30 a.m.

Chadwick got involved to keep active and to find a place big enough to garden as she doesn't have room in her yard at home.

In the last year, a greenhouse, security lighting and Community Gardens signs have been installed.

The lighting was intended to curtail people from taking produce without permission.

It is a problem Sally Goodwin, executive director of the Moses Lake Business Association, who has helps oversee the plots, is not sure how to resolve.

"We just keep improving it every year," Goodwin said of the Community Gardens.

For the first time, gardeners sold some of their vegetables at the Columbia Basin Farmers Market and Craft Bazaar. Other community involvement includes the Plant a Row program where

gardeners plant an extra row of vegetables to be donated to the Moses Lake Food Bank.

For many families that come to the food bank, it is not often they have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, said Linda Finlay, executive director with the Moses Lake Food Bank.

In recent months, Finlay has reported more donations of fresh fruits and vegetables than usual, but could not confirm how many of those came from Community Gardens donations.

With the end of the third season approaching, the Community Gardens has only two more years until its grant from the DOH and CDC runs out.

"We're gonna have to find something that will fund it," Goodwin said.

Money received from plot rentals, which range from $5 to $20 depending on size, help to finance some of the costs for water and electricity to the Community Gardens site.

The idea of charging a fee to hold a weekend gardening workshop or selling engraved bricks have been discussed as possible options for fund-raising.

The Community Gardens is also looking to fill a vacant space for a co-chair, someone to help oversee plot rentals and ensure maintenance on plots is kept up.

A garden clean-up party will be held Nov. 6 from noon to 4 p.m. at the Community Gardens with a potluck to follow at the Learning Center in Moses Lake.