Gardening: Mission Meadows garden created an ecosystem for food, friendship

A gaggle of young children gathered around Lynn Parsons as she helped them glue colorful bobbles, shells and artificial flowers onto their bird houses.

The caulk gun holding the glue was too big for most of the kids to handle, so she had to move quickly to keep up with the eager artists’ desire to get their projects done.

The bird house decorating project was one of many activities the Mission Meadows Community Garden has hosted this summer. The garden is tucked behind an arborvitae hedge just across Mission Avenue from Mission Park.

Parsons, a retired art teacher, her husband Kelly and a crew of community members have spent the summer building an outdoor gathering place where neighbors can grow food, fruit, flowers and friendships. Some friendships started as hellos while watering and now extend to garden members helping to move a refrigerator and other neighborly projects outside the garden.

“The community building has a ripple effect,” Parsons said. “The garden involves the whole neighborhood now.”

This helps prove the saying that a community garden is 90% community and 10% garden.

The garden started with a few raised beds in the late 2000s on a piece of City of Spokane Valley parkland and in cooperation with Spokane Valley Partners and Modern Electric Water Co. Spokane Valley Partners serves as the group’s sponsor and the garden donates food back to the food bank there. Modern Electric has provided water and security lighting for the garden.

In the past few years, garden members have planted a food forest of fruit trees and other food plants. Food forests are three-dimensional and diverse plantings of edible plants that attempt to mimic the ecosystems and patterns found in nature. Tall fruit trees shade lower food-bearing plants in a way that allows many plants to grow together successfully. Members of the garden all share in the fruit grown there.

The garden has raised beds people can rent for the season as well as you-pick vegetable and flower gardens that are open to the community on certain days. Both gardens were just coming into their glory in late July.

“We grew and planted over 3,000 flower starts this spring,” Parsons said. “Most of them at one gardener’s house.”

Donations are requested for you-pick vegetables and flowers.

“We were recently awarded a USDA grant to build low tunnels to protect early crops,” Parsons said.

The Spokane Associated Garden Club also provided grant funding to build a gathering space for classes and community events.

Madison Kuhn and Cailyn Rogers were busy picking mixed bouquets in the flower garden after learning about it on social media. They were excited about the variety of flowers and the welcoming garden members. Both said they would put their bouquets on their dining room tables and send a picture to their moms.

For info on Mission Meadows Community Garden and days the gardens are open for picking, go to: www.missionmeadowscg.com.