Volunteering at the HPFB Community Garden

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It was a beautiful Monday, perfect for gardening, even though five inches of snow had just fallen over the weekend. Yet, true to the fickle Panhandle weather, spring-like temperatures followed and arrived just in time for me to join seven students from Pleasant Valley Elementary School on a reward service day at the High Plains Food Bank Community Garden.

To dig in the dirt with a bunch of eager kids sounded like great fun, especially when each of them had names to spell out, stories to tell and curiosities that needed satisfying. After meeting Morgan Dezendorf, director of volunteer and nutrition education, at the garden’s entrance, I pulled on my work gloves and joined the mini-gardeners as they built the last two lasagna beds in the far corner of the one-acre plot.

“We had a group of kids come last week and they built three beds for us,” says Morgan. “It wore them out so we thought two beds were enough for these guys.”

Morgan’s first experience with the High Plains Food Bank came in the form of an internship in 2009 alongside Marc Jansing. After investing their time, energy and expertise as Environmental Science students, the two were hired as full-time educators and managers of the community garden. (Morgan handles the volunteers and education side while Marc manages the land.)

The garden is a cooperative project between the HPFB and the High Plains Institute for Applied Ecology and serves as a means to provide fresh, organic produce for the agency’s recipients as well as a teaching environment for the community. However, since Morgan and Marc are the only employees designated to work the garden, they rely heavily on volunteers to maintain it.

“Last June this area was a vacant lot. It was a place people threw their trash,” says Marc. “We haven’t even had a true first year yet, but what’s been accomplished is outstanding. We’re volunteer-driven. The garden is a social, health, and environmental issue, so everyone can find something to latch onto.”

In addition to the kids from Pleasant Valley, another volunteer was on site – Lynn Daigle, recent transplant to Amarillo from Detroit, whose background in urban planning gave way to finding the community garden online.

“I needed to get out of the house,” she laughs. “But I just started coming here in my free time once a week or so to do whatever they need, digging ditches, nailing posts or turning compost.”

Work labor aside, other donations have been just as valuable, such as the Tool Drive sponsored by St. Andrew’s Episcopal School and food scrap donations from local restaurants to feed the garden’s compost pile.

The grounds consist mostly of linear lasagna-style beds, though a raised bed area was recently built to accommodate those who require a handicapped-accessible environment.

“We have different styles of beds to show people what they can do, like make one out of cinder blocks or tires,” says Marc. “You can use almost any resource.”

Currently, Morgan and Marc are prepping the beds for summer planting and seed starting and beginning to harvest early spring produce. Volunteers would be a great help in the labor of working the beds as well as contributing to the compost pile, which would require keeping your personal uncooked food scraps, like coffee grounds, banana peels and inedible discarded plant parts, and dropping them off at the HPFB.

As the students and I wrapped up our volunteer time at the garden (first graders can only last so long, as can 30-something writers), I felt the tiniest bit of pride that we’d contributed to the production of healthy, nutritious food that will feed a multitude of hungry people across the Panhandle. Dirt and sweat notwithstanding, you don’t have to have a green thumb to have a positive impact. The HPFB Community Garden is an ideal summertime spot for families, groups or even individuals who just want to lend a hand to help cultivate fresh, healthy food for those in need.

You Can Help
- Volunteers are welcome Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to noon, and 1-4 p.m., and on Saturdays, 9 a.m. to noon. It is best to call at least 24 hours ahead of time to see what shift is available.

- Drop off your inedible, uncooked food scraps to contribute to the garden’s compost pile. Ideal scraps include coffee grounds, rinsed egg shells, banana peels and discarded plant parts. (Due to acidity levels in the soil, citrus peels are not preferable.)

- Make a bigger impact with a more people by organizing a group of volunteers within your family, work place or church.

- Clean out your shed or garage and donate unused garden tools to the garden.

For more information about volunteering, contact Morgan at 374.8562 or email her at morgan@hpfb.org

by Jennie Treadway-Miller

Jennie was a columnist for the Chattanooga Times Free Press for eight years prior to moving to Amarillo in 2008. She is an avid reader, runner and writer.