Community garden thrives in Ferndale

On a warm summer Saturday, swing by the Bigfork/Ferndale community garden, and you’ll probably find a group of people happily working away among 72 gardens.

The community garden next to St. Patrick’s church is in its sixth season. Michelle Patterson has been with the garden since its inception, right after she moved to the area in 2007.

She joined St. Patrick’s church as they were discussing what to do with the empty land the owned next to the church. Someone suggested a community garden.

Patterson helped kids from the church plant an experimental plot, and from there the garden took off.

Now that first experimental plot is filled with flowers, one of the few non-vegetable plots in the garden. After Patterson’s husband passed away from skin cancer, she turned her small patch of soil into a remembrance garden. A few other garden members have also planted similar remembrance plots.

Though every one of the 72 plots is planted, there is still room for new gardeners to buy a plot. Rather than leave the unpaid for plots empty, however, Patterson, and Master Gardener MonaRae Tuhy plant them for the Bigfork Food Pantry. Last year, the community garden donated over 700 pounds of food to the Bigfork Food Pantry, Patterson said.

“It’s was silly to just have them sitting here empty,” Patterson said.

Plots cost $15 for the season if purchased before June. After that they are $20.

The money paid for the plots gets put back into the garden, and every year they’ve been able to use to do get something new to improve the garden, such as irrigation, or hoops to help protect vegetables from frost. This year there is talk of putting in a garden library.

Initially you could pay for a plot, and have garden volunteers plant and care for it. But Patterson said they found people were donating money, but no one was volunteering.

“It’s a humongous amount of work to keep these 72 plots,” she said.

Now with the purchase of a plot you commit to growing another plot for the Food Pantry, and committing two hours a month of time to the overall garden, in addition to maintaining your own plot.

Patterson said many people spend far more the two hours a month at the garden. Tuhy helps with not only the community garden, but the new school garden in Bigfork. Tuhy completed the Master Gardener program through Montana State University extension about five years ago. The Master Gardener program has three levels, and aims to teach home gardeners more of the science behind growing plants.

“It’s just to teach home gardeners to be better gardeners,” Tuhy said.

Part of becoming a Master Gardener means volunteering in your community, and being available to answer gardening questions.

Tuhy believes knowing how to grow good, fresh food is important.

“I believe that every church, school nursing home, hospital, you name it — should have their own garden,” she said. “I just really believe everyone should grow their own food.”

Sharon Schiltz joined the garden this year because her yard doesn’t get enough sun. She enjoys being out in the garden, and appreciates the quality of homegrown vegetables.

“Food from the earth that’s fresh really isn’t that common any more,” she said. “People don’t believe how good it tastes.

Just being in the community garden is also a resource for new gardeners, being able to draw advice from other members.

“That’s the thing about community gardens that’s so outstanding,” Tuhy said. “You have different levels of gardeners.”

The garden community is part of what Patterson really enjoys about the garden.

“We’re a bunch of friends and we get to hang out,” she said. “It’s been an especially good source of camaraderie for me.”

Time spent in the garden can also be therapeutic.

“It’s just so calming and peaceful to be out here with your hands in the dirt, watching things grow,” she said. “I find it very healing to be out here.”