Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Comm. garden
Comm. garden
An overflow parking lot is becoming a community garden in Colfax.
The lot, owned by Peace Lutheran Church, began to be transformed in mid-June, as part of an effort by the church and Backyard Harvest, a group based in Moscow.
Backyard Harvest operates eight community gardens, and they received a $14,500 grant last year to build more. The grant is from the Empire Health Foundation for the purpose of growing 10,000 pounds of produce to be donated to area food banks.
Earlier this year, Jeannelle Miller, an intern for Backyard Harvest, went to Colfax City Hall to talk to Mayor Todd Vanek about starting a garden.
A few minutes later, Pastor Phil Misner from Peace Lutheran Church arrived to discuss the same thing.
Soon plans were being made for six 20-feet-long raised planter beds, six tractor tires for squash and four regular-sized tires for a potato tower.
Peace Lutheran volunteers and Backyard Harvest advisors broke ground June 10.
This week, the finishing adjustments are being made to a watering system to bring up the planted peppers, tomatoes, raspberries, cabbage, lettuce, carrots, radishes, squash and potatoes.
As part of their mission, Backyard Harvest always partners with a community group when starting a garden.
“This group, Peace Lutheran, has been very involved the whole time,” said Miller. “They’ve gone above and beyond.”
The church will formally take over operation in late September, after the garden’s harvest.
Pastor Phil Misner said the idea for a community garden began at the church last year after they received a $4,000 donation of local wheat. The congregation sold the wheat and sought ideas on how to spend the money. Misner said six proposals were submitted, and the top three were chosen.
“The congregation overwhelmingly supported the garden,” said Misner.
Ranked first, the garden effort garnered $1,800.
About two-thirds of the overflow parking lot has been converted to the garden.
Misner said the lot was rarely used, and when needed in the future, street parking will do.
Overall, the church’s project has caught on quickly.
“It’s gone really well,” said Misner. “It’s taken off a lot faster than we envisioned.”
He said various church members will take part in running the garden.
“We’ll see how this year goes. It gives us time to plan for next year,” Misner said.
“This is very much a project of the congregation. And I’m simply excited that Colfax has a community garden.”
Miller said that Backyard Harvest, which runs three community gardens in Pullman and four in Moscow, feels the same.
“It’s all been pretty much flawless,” she said. “We’re really happy with it.”
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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