The Community Garden at St. Timothy’s Draws More than Bees!
Written by Pamela Thorsch – Posted by Kathleen Dickson for Wild Rivers Connect
On a sunny Sunday, July 24th, St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church opened its community garden to the public for the first time, to the sheer delight and awe felt by everyone who attended. Live music filled the air as you strolled around the organic garden beds to enjoy the labor of love created by so many volunteer participants. With a hot dog in one hand, and a cookie and watermelon in the other, over 100 people strolled the pathways to marvel at the thriving vegetables, view the artwork panels hung on the deer-deterrent fencing, and look at the story boards of the evolution of the garden, which began development in 2019.
Creation of the community garden was initially envisioned by Scott Clapson, a long time Brookings resident and parish member who moved away; however the vision remained. Shortly after Scott left, Linda Lee arrived from Marin County in California. At 68 years old, with a long career in dentistry and serving in various state leadership roles for several organizations along the way, Linda received a calling to serve the community in a different way. She set her sights on becoming an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church.
Linda was assigned to St. Timothy’s during the required four years of deacon formation, education and training. Among her assignments was the task of developing the community garden. Little did St. Timothy’s know what a gift they were given. This petite silver haired woman filled with energy and ideas had a vocational background in landscape design…AND had been a part-owner of a successful landscape business outside the Portland metro area. It was fate working in a miraculous way!
The plot designated for the garden was located adjacent to the church grounds on the southwest side. Mind you, this wasn’t an ordinary plot of flat land; it was more suited to billy goats, with a steep drop down to a creek overgrown with blackberry bushes. Linda put her past expertise into full gear; she knew what had to be done, and took on the project with tenacity, forming an advisory board, drafting a landscape plan, hiring a professional excavator, engaging volunteers outside the congregation, clearing brush and building raised beds.
Slowed down but not stopped by Covid, one by one various faith-based and secular non-profits offered to help, adopting one of the eight garden beds (including a children’s bed), each made from cinder blocks and filled with rich, organic soil. Among them are the League of Women’s Voters, Indivisible 97415, a social justice group, and the Seventh Day Adventists. Each group selected two varieties of veggies to grow and tend on a weekly basis, including a bounty of bush beans and strawberries, cherry tomatoes and potatoes, zucchini and carrots – even fava beans! A number of local residents also stepped in to help – working side by side with unsheltered folks who are part of St. Tim’s community – in the creation of the garden which integrated seed, soil and social camaraderie among everyone. Even Henry Johnson, manager of Fred Meyers, built garden workbenches and compost bins on his days off. Adding to the garden ambience, 2’ x 4’ plywood panels have been made available to local artists to paint and hang along the fence, all reflecting the beauty of nature..as if she needed any help. A few panels are still available for those artistic souls.
Funding for the garden project was provided by the Coquille Tribal Foundation, Wild Rivers Coast Alliance, Oregon Lutheran Synod, and from community minded individuals and in-kind donations.
It’s important to all those involved to share the fruits of their labor. For instance, the Brookings Harbor Food Bank recently launched a pilot program to provide seniors with healthy food, so every Wednesday vegetables harvested from the garden are delivered to the Community Helpers program to be handed out Thursday mornings free of charge. Fresh veggies are also incorporated into the community meal service that St. Timothy’s offers to those in need four times a week.
The generosity of spirit has been contagious, especially as the garden is still under development. There are plans to create more events and programs at the garden going forward. It is open to visitors daily, next to the church at 401 Fir St., Brookings, Oregon. If you are interested in getting involved or making a contribution to support the next phase of the garden, contact Deacon Linda Lee at St. Timothy’s (541) 469-3314.
