Celebrate Community Gardens!

Community gardens celebration set Aug. 22-28

Marion-Polk Food Share will kick off World Kitchen Garden Day and Community Garden Tour Week with a community barbecue from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 22, at Trinity United Methodist Church, 590 Elma Ave. SE, Salem.

The event is held in keeping with the tradition of Kitchen Garden Day, where people gather in their gardens with friends, family, and members of their local community to celebrate the pleasures and benefits of home-grown, hand-made foods. In addition to food and fellowship, there will be a walking tour of Julie’s Garden, a 10,000 square-foot learning garden partnership between Trinity United Methodist, Four Corners Elementary School and Marion-Polk Food Share.

The days following the free kick-off celebration will feature two sets of lunch-hour and evening tours of model community gardens in Salem and Keizer. Each Wednesday and Friday tour covers four gardens. The noon to 1 p.m. tour starts at the Marion-Polk Food Share Edible Landscape Project, 1660 Salem Industrial Drive NE. The 6 to 8 p.m. tour starts at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church Garden, 3295 Ladd Ave. Participants will caravan to the remaining sites. The public is encouraged to attend.

“Our desire is to raise awareness about our Sustainable Community Gardens program and to show folks what great things are possible when people build relationships, help one another and work side by side growing food for themselves and to share with others,” said gardens program manager Jordan Blake. The complete tour schedule is attached.

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Community Garden Tours – Aug. 25 and Aug. 27

LUNCH-HOUR TOURS
Wednesday, Aug.25 and Friday, Aug. 27, noon – 1 p.m.
· Marion Polk Food Share, 1660 Salem Industrial Drive, NE Salem
· Oregon School for the Deaf, 999 Locust St., NE Salem
· Highland Neighborhood Garden, corner of Hazel and Columbia streets, NE Salem
· Salvation Army Garden and Food Box Site

This tour begins at noon with the Marion-Polk Food Share’s Edible Landscape Project that is in its preliminary phase. The next three gardens on the tour route are located within 1.5 miles of Marion-Polk Food Share. They are the 1-acre Food Share Garden located on Oregon School for the Deaf grounds; a garden located on a vacant lot in the Highland Neighborhood; and the Salvation Army Garden coordinated by Sunnyside Organics, a partner of Marion-Polk Food Share. This lunch-hour garden tour will also include a short tour of the Salvation Army Food Bank.

EVENING TOURS
Wednesday, Aug. 25 and Friday, Aug. 27, 6 - 8 p.m.
· St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church Garden, 3295 Ladd Ave., NE Salem
· Northgate Peace and Forgiveness Garden, 455 Biller Ave., NE Salem
· Redeemer Lutheran Community Garden, 4663 Lancaster Drive, NE Salem
· Whittam Community Garden, 5402 Ridge Drive N., Keizer

This tour is designed to highlight four gardens that have started within the last two years: the St. Timothy’s community garden in partnership with Hoover Elementary; the Northgate Peace and Forgiveness Garden, started last fall at Northgate Park in memory of Montez Bailey; and the Redeemer Lutheran Community Garden and Whittam Community Garden, both begun in 2010.

For information, contact Jordan Blake at 503-581-3855, ext. 329.