Two community gardens provide space for growing things

Zachary Villar For The Sentinel

Community gardens give members of the community a chance to grow their own food and experience the pleasures of gardening. In Goldendale we have two community gardens: the Goldendale Community Garden, which is located next to the Goldendale Swimming Pool at 401 N. King Avenue, and the Father’s House Fellowship Community Garden is on the south side of the Father’s House Fellowship Church at 207 S. Klickitat Avenue.

The Goldendale Community Garden was started around 2005 with involvement from the WSU Master Gardeners. Throughout the years, there have been many crops successfully grown there. In 2022, Central Klickitat County Parks and Recreation District hired Kathy Keller as the groundskeeper for the community garden. Keller has brought new passion to the project, and she has been diligently keeping the lawns mowed and the flower beds weeded and beautiful.

In the fall of last year, a majority of the garden plots were weeded and covered with heavy tarps to prevent weeds from growing during winter, so this year the area will be easier to maintain. The Gol- dendale Community Garden encourages organic gardening methods but is not certified organic.

“The community garden depends on its members and volunteers for most of the work that goes into maintaining it,” said Lori Anderson, Associate Planner in the Planning Department of Klickitat County. Those interested in gardening in the Goldendale Community Garden can submit a rental application that can be found on the Central Klickitat County Parks & Recreation District website, centralklickitatparksandrecreation.com. The cost of renting a garden plot is a $1 per linear foot yearly payment, and there are scholarships available for those who cannot afford the rental fee.

The Father’s House Fellowship Community Garden is working on preparing the garden plots for any community members who would like to grow produce. In the past, some people who have gardened there have donated their food to the church to be given to those in need, but Senior Elder Darrell Watson says that is not the focus of the garden. “Most folks just take what they grow and share it with friends.”

The Father’s House Fellowship provides some seeds and plant starts if desired. Their community garden will be tended to by the Fellowships’ maintenance supervisor as well as an employee of “People for People”, a non-profit organization that helps people find employment. Those interested in gardening at the Father’s House Fellowship Community Garden can call (509) 773-4719 or walk in. The Fellowship building is open Sunday through Friday, 8 a.m. to noon.

Not everyone has the space or resources to grow their own gardens, so community gardens offer a helpful resource to the community. Gardening can be good for your physical and mental health. Spring is here, and now’s the time to get out there and try your hand at gardening!

Zachary Villar For The Sentinel

An Agricultural Awareness Workshop was held at the Goldendale Grange on Friday, April 21. The workshop was part of the Grange Mini-Fair that occurred over the weekend. It was an opportunity for members of the community to ask local farmers and ranchers about agriculture and ranching and to learn about some of the difficulties and hardships that farmers and ranchers experience. To promote the event, organizer Luann Whitmire led her steer, Valentine, down Main Street on her way to the event.

Whitmire, who works for both Ballard Farms and Kay Kayser Ranches, stood in an empty livestock semi-trailer in front of the Grange as the workshop began. She lamented the negative reputation farmers receive. “They’re made out to be the bad guys, and they’re not at all. That’s what this is about, to bring people to understand farming.” A 2016 CDC study showed that agriculture as an industry (grouped with forestry, fishing, and hunting in the study) had the fourth highest rate of male suicide in the nation, behind mining, quarrying, oil and gas extraction, construction, and other services. Whitmire referenced the high suicide rate among farmers. “They’re so selfless because they’re providing for ev- eryone else. They aren’t thinking of their own bottom dollar. They have a hard life, and it’s 24 hours a day. If a cow gets out, you’re up and going and getting it.”

Present at the event were representatives from the Goldendale Grange, the Centerville Grange, KVH, the USDA, AgrAbility and Farm Stress, and 2023 Klickitat County Fair & Rodeo Queen Raina McAllister.

AgrAbility is a national program overseen by the USDA that offers assistance to agricultural workers with disabilities. Farm Stress, or the Western Regional Agricultural Stress Assistance Program, is a USDA-funded program that seeks to combat and reverse the high suicide rate in agricultural workers through education, funding opportunities, and compassion.

“I like to simply explain it by saying that Farm Stress deals with some of the mental stresses of farming, and AgrAbility deals with some of the physical stresses,” said Emily Whittier, a Washington State University Extension representative for the two programs. She explained how the program tries to address the problem at its roots by offering educational opportunities such as financial classes for farmers and ranchers.

“We’re working on securing funding for more root-cause classes, like succession

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• Learn more at experiencegoldendale.com planning, and business-related planning for farmers to take for free. We also do QPR (Question, Persuade, and Refer), a suicide prevention training.”

Washington is one of 20 states that offers the AgrAbility program. “We pair farmers and ranchers with the right tools and technologies to continue farming after injury, or sudden illness, or we have a lot of folks that are just aging, and their bodies have been working so hard for so long,” said Whittier. On the table before her were various tools to make agricultural work accessible to those with disabilities. “We’ve got a lending library so folks can borrow any of this.” Whittier mentioned that the program offers farm and house calls to assess the struggles someone may be experiencing and to find solutions.

Klickitat Valley Health Director of Human Resources Charis Weis was at the workshop offering information about the hospital’s behavioral health services. “We have a lot of really good resources for mental health and stress and anxiety.”

Chris Ballard of Ballard Farms was one of the farmers present at the workshop. He’s been farming wheat and hay and raising cattle in the area since 1999.

Ballard has a background of working in mechanics, beginning as an apprentice diesel mechanic. “Having the mechanical background is what’s been a savior of the farm,” said Ballard. “If I didn’t have the mechanical education skill, the farm wouldn’t work. It barely works the way it is. The price of fuel, chemicals, parts, equipment, of course, is astronomical. It’s gotten beyond reality.” He spoke about how farmers persist in these difficult circumstances. “It’s a love of what you do. Dollars and cents wise you have good years and not so good years. There are some government subsidies that come along periodically, but you normally pay for it one way or another; it’s not anything for free.”

Ballard offered examples of the effects of inflation, including the cost of Roundup, a chemical used for controlling the growth of weeds in agricultural and non-agricultural settings. “A couple of years ago prior to this administration, quite frankly, [Roundup] was about $10 a gallon and last year it went up as much as $46 to $50 a gallon. The bottom line is the price of fuel’s doubled, almost tripled in some cases, so the cost per acre to generate a crop for food is beyond reality, it’s crazy,” said Ballard. “What we used to do a few years ago versus now, I

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don’t know how we keep going, but we do.”

Despite the difficulties faced by farmers and ranchers, the mood in the Grange building that day was high. Toward the end of the afternoon, a group of people gathered in the basement of the building to share food and stories and to have a few laughs. Orchardists commiserated with farmers on the subject of weather, as they have likely done since the beginning of man’s decision to live by growing his own sustenance. Those not personally involved in the business of agriculture took the opportunity to listen and learn.