Puyallup Methodist Church garden serves up bounty for food bank

Rows of corn, pole beans, tomatoes and giant sunflowers stand tall, almost as though they are guarding the shorter plants growing in the community garden behind the Puyallup United Methodist Church, located at 1919 West Pioneer Avenue.

Among the vegetables planted in the organic garden are radishes, peas, onions, broccoli, cabbage, bok choy, cucumbers, pole peas, three varieties of squash, carrots and sugar pie pumpkins with zinnias and dahlias to attract bees.

All of the harvested produce is given to the Puyallup Food Bank. By the end of August, more than 2,000 pounds was donated.

Dick Vasel, one member of the two couples heading this year’s garden project, calls it a Christian community in action. The church’s lead pastor, Rev. Ron Myers, views the garden as an act of mercy, justice and good hospitality.

“No doubt that the greatest issue in the world is hunger,” Myers said. “We are not going to solve it with a single event, but we can eliminate it one act at a time. “Changing lives is elementary to who we are as United Methodists, and the garden is an example of giving our best and not just offering what is left over. Everyone deserves the best and when we give that, we affirm their dignity.”

When church member Renee Hartloff envisioned some eight or nine years ago having a garden where pumpkins could be planted for the children, she was encouraged by one of the pastors at the time to create one. The space was small and the few vegetables that were planted were donated to the food bank. When grapes were added, the juice was used for communion.

Over the years, however, only a few garden helpers became involved. Determined to make this year’s garden a success, Vasel and his wife, Sharon, together with Judy and Joe Heidal, took over responsibility for the endeavor. The garden consequently was expanded by adding a 28-by-46-foot plot to the earlier 36-by-46-foot parcel.

Interest in the community garden blossomed thanks to two church-wide activities held earlier in the year. The first featured an informative gardening class held during PUMC University, a series of classes taught by church members on a variety of topics of interest. The second was held on Serve the World Sunday when church members were encouraged to sign up to work in the garden.

“We have a small, faithful core group of gardeners,” Sharon Vasel said. “Judy drew the garden layout and others in the congregation participated by donating seeds, loaning a tractor and tiller, watering, weeding and delivering harvested produce to the food bank.”

Although the gardening group is small, Myers believes that the congregation as a whole is proud of what the garden represents to the community and that they pray for its success. New to PUMC, Myers is impressed with the size of its land and what it can mean in the future as the garden’s opportunities evolve.

Still involved with the garden, Hartloff brings the children in her day care to the garden to learn about caring for the earth and the importance of feeding others. In June, the children planted two rows of corn and two rows of zinnias.

“They learn about the connection between the earth, planting seeds, picking the harvest and seeing where the food goes when we drop it off at the food bank,” she said.

Since June, the gardeners have harvested twice weekly and will probably pick until the end of September. Although some of the vegetables are finished for the season, radishes are being replanted. The recent wind storm did considerable damage to the corn, forcing the group to salvage as much of the corn as possible before cleaning up the debris.

But the warm summer has been wonderful for the vegetables, Judy said.

“We haven’t even had slugs,” she said.

The only product used on the garden is Tagro, the blend of pasteurized wastewater byproducts developed from Tacoma Grow.

“I am amazed at how much produce has come from such a small space,” Judy said enthusiastically. “At one picking alone, we harvested 20 pounds of green beans. I don’t think that people are really aware of how appreciative the homeless are for fresh produce. I think we need to communicate better the importance of this garden, even to our own church members.”

Gardening is a wonderful opportunity for all generations to work together, the couples believe.

“There are few places where young children and parents can work together,” Myers said.

This story was originally published September 16, 2015 at 11:20 AM with the headline "Puyallup Methodist Church garden serves up bounty for food bank."