FOOD for Lane County - Churchill Benefit

Garden Fiesta to Benefit FOOD for Lane County Gardens Program and Huerto de la Familia


	FOOD for Lane County's Kai Williams shows children from the Eugene Downtown Athletic Club Summer Camp some beneficial bugs at Churchill Community Garden.

The public is invited to join FOOD for Lane County for an evening of food, music, art activities, games, Native American storytelling, a salsa eating contest, pinatas, garden tours and a silent auction at Churchill Community Garden, Saturday, July 29, from 4:30pm to 8pm. The garden is located behind Kennedy Middle School at 2200 Bailey Hill Road in Eugene. Children are welcome and encouraged. A $5-$10 donation is suggested.

Proceeds from the event will benefit FOOD for Lane County’s Gardens Program and Huerto de la Familia (The Family Garden), a small nonprofit dedicated to creating community and self-sufficiency by connecting low-income Latino families with garden space, education and the resources they need to grow their own food.

Discovery Happens at Churchill Garden
Since October 2005, Kai Williams has been working with the FOOD for Lane County Gardens Program staff, coordinating volunteer and educational activities at Churchill Garden. Her position is funded by AmeriCorps through the Northwest Service Academy.

Last year, Williams taught inner-city elementary and middle school students about gardening at a residentail environmental education center on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle. The 26-year-old Wisconsin native loves combining education and gardening.


Kai Williams shows young gardeners that it's easy to garden, no matter how old you are.

“It was enchanting to watch the kids explore the garden and see how surprised they were by different things,” Williams said. “One little girl was shocked when she learned that carrots come from the ground. It’s really exciting to see that kind of discovery happen.”

Williams is helping make discoveries happen at Churchill Garden every day.

“Education is a big part of what makes the garden special,” she said. “Whether that’s adult volunteers who come to learn more about gardening or 3- and 4-year-olds who come to the garden with their parents or students who come here from Kennedy Middle School and Churchill High School, a lot of learning happens here.”

So Much More than Vegetables!
"Because Churchill is an educational garden, we try to grow a variety of crops,” Williams said. The 1.5-acre garden boasts an orchard, a medicinal herb garden, a culinary herb garden, a compost demonstration site, a pond, a rock garden and a native species hedgerow. The garden also has 60 community garden plots for rent on a sliding scale from $15 to $40. Plot rental includes water use, soil amendments, tools, seeds and plants when they’re available and plenty of garden advice.

“We even have a pizza bed with ingredients you might find on a pizza,” said Williams. "The kids love it."


	At Churchill Garden, children learn the value of eating a nutritious diet and gain an understanding of how food is grown and distributed.

Part production garden, part educational garden, Churchill produces about 3,000 pounds of produce in a season. The staff want to increase that to 5,000 pounds.

“This year we’ve created four new 50-foot beds, and we’ve planted those in onions, watermelons, winter squash, pumpkins and potatoes," said Williams. "That should substantially increase the garden's yield.”

Churchill is one of three gardens managed by FOOD for Lane County. Together, the gardens grow over 83,000 pounds of fresh, organic produce each year. More than two thirds are distributed to low-income Lane County households through the FOOD for Lane County network of programs and services. The remaining third is sold through a youth-run farmstand and a community-supported agriculture program.

For more information about Saturday's Garden Fiesta and Benefit or FOOD for Lane County’s Gardens Program, please call (541) 343-2822 or email gardens@foodforlanecounty.org.