Lots of Idahoans grow vegetable gardens, and most of them are fairly small. Maybe a few tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers or squash. But there’s a garden in southwest Boise that goes to the extreme, producing tons of fruits and vegetables each season.
Garden master Jim Duthie shows us this local volunteer garden that provides food for the needy, as well as some food for the soul.
It’s mid-May, and these folks are busy planting a garden. But unlike most of our backyard vegetable gardens, this one is on a slightly larger scale.
“We have about 500 cabbage plants,” said garden director Dan Mattson. “Different varieties of peppers too, so like we have habaneros, red cayennes, Hungarian hot wax, jalapenos.”
They say that gardening is good for the soul, and at this volunteer church garden, it benefits many more than just those who are planting and harvesting.
The garden is a mission project at the Cathedral of the Rockies Amity Campus. Each year, it produces several tons of fruits and vegetables, and almost all of it is given away.
“All of our produce, for the most part, goes to St. Vincent de Paul’s food pantry,” said Mattson. “And we have about 20 volunteers who come out and work in the garden throughout the year, and over the time we’ve had lots of volunteers. You know, it’s a good project. People really believe in it.”
Since it began in 2010, the garden has produced more than 65 tons of produce, and in the last three years alone, 52,000 pounds of produce was donated to the food pantry.
“It is also a USDA people’s garden, which is part of the initiative of the U.S. Department of Agriculture,” said Mattson.
Volunteers help prepare the ground, plant the crops, and tend the garden through the summer. Other contributors donate fertilizer and the use of a tractor.
This little gardener has discovered that earthworms can be fun.
The garden started out small, and grows larger every year. Some of the funds to operate the garden, including buying seeds and supplies, come from cash donations from the congregation. But the garden also helps pay for itself.
“We do, actually, to raise money for the garden, we’ll do several things,” said Mattson. “We have a jam-making party. So we take some of our raspberries and blackberries and strawberries, and we make a whole bunch of jam and we sell jars of jam.”
They also make and sell homemade salsa and pickles, all from the garden’s bounty.
Nearly 2,000 plants were started and grown in this greenhouse, which was constructed as an Eagle Scout project, as was this 48-foot-long strawberry growing box.
“I think the biggest thing that brings people here is knowing where the food is going,” said Mattson.
“Not only do they like to get their hands dirty in the dirt and watch things grow, but knowing that we are taking this whole big pick-up load of stuff down to St. Vincent de Paul’s, and that it’s needed in this community and it’s food that is nourishing.”
“They don’t get a lot of fresh vegetables, or it’s canned. So when the gardening year comes on, this is a major, major supply of fresh vegetables, good nutritious food.”
When fall arrives, and the garden starts to wind down, there’s a harvest festival of sorts.
“Yeah, we call it Pumpkins and Ponies. The ponies is Carriages for Hire, and they come and they have their carriages, and they give kids rides around the baseball field.”
“And we give away about 600 pumpkins. We have our big pumpkin patch. The kids get to come out and just take pumpkins.”
“It’s a lot of fun. A lot of people come and that’s kind of our end of the year. The garden’s pretty much froze out by then, we hope. Cuz by then you’re kind of tired of gardening and you need a break.”
This garden feeds hundreds, if not thousands, of Idahoans, and it just goes to show you what a few dedicated volunteers can do with the spirit of humanitarianism.
If you end up growing more produce in your garden than you can use, local food banks and shelters will be happy to take it off your hands and make it available to others who need it.