BOISE, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
Small gusts of wind blew through the small pumpkin patch at Spaulding Ranch, where neighbors and kids gathered bundled in hoodies, hats and coats, united in one cause: finding the perfect pumpkin.
The pumpkin patch is critical during this time of year, little Cordelia Teitler said, because it’s jack-o-lantern season.
But the ranch will eventually be more than a place for tracking down jack-o-lanterns.
“To me, it’s like having a farm without having a farm and having that outdoor laboratory,” Ariel Agenbroad, Area Extension Educator, Community Food Systems and Small Farms at University of Idaho, said. “I’ve been teaching classes for veterans getting into agriculture for years ... it’s so much harder to teach when you can’t just come out from our lab, so having a real living laboratory, living classroom, where we can potentially teach the farming by farming, is going to be incredible.”
The property is meant to become just that — a community gathering space for agricultural and historical education, Boise Parks and Recreation Open Space Superintendent Lisa Duplessie said.
“It’s really a teaching space,” Duplessie said. “It’s an urban agriculture park.”
On Wednesday afternoon, the city of Boise celebrated the first pumpkin harvest at Spaulding Ranch, a 20-acre property that was acquired by Boise in 2016 and was designated as a local historic district in 1996.
“It’s walkable. It’s unique,” Heather Eshelby-Goade said while watching her three boys hunt for pumpkins. “It’s not something that a lot of urban communities have, this beautiful garden space and protecting these green spaces is critical, especially as we grow.”
As Boise grows in density, people should have access to gardens, Eshelby-Goade said.
“It’s just good old-fashioned fun,” Eshelby-Goade said.
In the next year, Boise Parks and Recreation will work with Global Gardens, the University of Idaho and the neighborhood association to really build the ranch so it can become a complete teaching space, Duplessie said.
“It’s definitely not something the city can do on their own,” Duplessie said.
The goal is to have an access road coming into the ranch from the dead end road of Glenwood in June, so there will be space for a bus drop-off for field trips.
“Whether it’s soil education, plant health, science, all kinds of stuff, they can drop off,” Duplessie said.
Eventually the ranch will also have a wash station for veggies and a restroom. The ranch will be similar to Boise Urban Garden School (BUGS), which has nearly an acre of garden and a commercial kitchen. BUGS typically sees around 10,000 students every year. The ranch, Duplessie said, will hopefully help Boise maintain a piece of agriculture within city limits, despite the growth the city is experiencing.
“It’s something that we lose as we grow and expand development,” Duplessie said. “It’s super important and we’re obviously going to grow, but I think maintaining these spaces is important. We’re watching kids out here pick their pumpkins, and I think a lot of kids go to grocery stores and grab a pumpkin out of the bin and don’t even know where it came from.”
Now, they will.
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
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