Area church turns unused land into 60 community garden plots

By Kathy Hanks
The Hutchinson News

SOUTH HUTCHINSON - Sprouting like weeds across the landscape, community gardens will be blossoming this spring.

With all the plots at Hutchinson's Community Garden spoken for even before the St. Patrick's Day potatoes are planted, there is another option for local garden enthusiasts with shaded backyards or no property to call their own.

The fertile land surrounding Faith Mennonite Church is now available as the congregation opens its first community garden this month.

After a year of discussing and planning, the small congregation is offering 60 plots for anyone wanting to experience growing their own food. Church members have cultivated the earth alongside a tree row that serves as a windbreak and are ready for gardeners to converge.

The impetus for opening up the church property, in the southwest corner where U.S. 50 and K-96 intersect, came after discussing what the church had to share with its community.

"After the discussion we realized we have a lot of land and this is what we can offer," said Jim Unruh, the church's pastor.

This year they have divided the land into 12-foot-by-6-foot plots, but Unruh hopes in the years to come to be more flexible with what the various gardeners want, offering bigger or smaller plots or even having raised beds. Plots cost $15, but Unruh said assistance is available for anyone who needs it. They will have some tools on hand, plus provide the water.

"The first year we are working up the plots, but down the line we want people to have that experience," Unruh said. "Folks have been donating tools to the project and we are open to folks who want to help support it."

Along with the plots, the congregation is hoping to truly form a sense of community with the garden by offering classes for first-time gardeners, such as picking out seeds and seedlings and preserving and canning classes.

"We want to create mentoring relationships between new gardeners and experienced gardeners," Unruh said.

He's hoping that experienced gardeners, even if they don't have a plot at the church, will want to be involved sharing their knowledge.

"Our hope is to create a community spot," he said. "We would love to have a pavilion for shade and picnicking."

They also hope to have a recreational spot for children to play within sight of parents as they garden.

In creating a community garden, Unruh knows there are people who prefer to garden quietly without much interaction, he said. They are welcome and would be left alone. But he also knows there are people who see the garden as community building and they too are welcome.

"There are some people who find a connection with their creator as they garden," and for them, Unruh said, this will be that kind of spot.

Bringing in the bounty

Despite their late start last summer in forming the Great Bend Community Garden Association, the Garden of Eatin' - across from Barton County Community College behind Great Bend's Community Christian Church, at 253 N.E. 30 Road - had a bountiful season, said Janel Rose, public health educator with the Barton County Health Department.

"Last year we didn't get started until June 3, but we were blessed with beautiful weather, timely rains and were able to harvest 2,000 pounds of fresh vegetables," Rose said.

This year they plan to start earlier. They have even secured a grant from the Golden Belt Community Foundation that will help develop a new water system and pay for the labor on fencing, as well as help pay for a garden coordinator and garden steward.

They offer individual plots for anyone who wants to grow food or grow produce to sell at a farmers market or produce stand. But they also have a communal plot to donate food to the local soup kitchen.

"Last year we had 40 to 50 volunteers throughout the growing season, and it was strictly a charitable garden with donated seeds and plants and donated funds for tools," Rose said. "We had a really good start."

This year, along with offering 120 plots to the community, there will also be a learning garden close to the elementary school to help children learn about growing organic vegetables. That garden will begin this spring.

The rental fee is $25 for a 10-foot-by-20-foot plot from March through October.

"That includes water," Rose said. "With the water that's a bargain."

They also plan on offering planting lessons for first-time gardeners.

"It's a beginning and that's what we want," Rose said.