Mahonia Gardens kick starts a dream

Tucked away in an off-the-beaten-path corner inside Sisters' city limits lies Mahonia Gardens.

Located on property owned by the Tehan family, Mahonia Gardens is a productive experimental garden that will expand the understanding of the challenge of gardening in the High Desert.

Benji Nagel and Carys Wilkins launched Mahonia Gardens this spring after a successful Kickstarter campaign. Kickstarter is an online crowd-source fundraising device that has helped several local artists and entrepreneurs get their work off the ground.

Or, in this case, in the ground.

"The goal is to have a productive and educational garden space that explores what can be done with gardening in Central Oregon," Nagel told The Nugget.

It's no secret that gardening in Sisters Country can be a heartbreaking proposition. The growing season is short and unpredictable. A late cold snap can kill your healthy starts.

Even experienced gardeners like Nagel and Wilkins get caught by the fickle hand of Mother Nature. Their Brussels sprouts got hammered. The kale is doing great, however, and they've got a lot more going on.

"We have a lot of kale in the ground, spinach, mustards that are doing really well, arugula," said Nagel.

The thing is to keep working at it - and looking beyond the traditional staples.

Nagel and Wilkins are researching varieties that grow in boreal forests in northern Russia and in high-altitude locations in Asia that would naturally do well here.

"We just started a yam that's hardy to Zone 4," Wilkins said.

There's a challenge in marketing foods people aren't used to, but that's part of the reason for places like Mahonia Gardens.

"A lot of things have been lost over the years because of the centralization of food production," Wilkins observed.

The recent trend toward localized agriculture and wholesome foods has opened many people's minds and primed their palates for foodstuffs outside the usual fare.

Nagel and Wilkins met in college in Ashland. As their Kickstarter page notes, "We quickly connected over a shared passion for gardening, local, organic foods, and a simple, holistic lifestyle. All through college, we supported ourselves by working in gardens and on small farms."

Now the pair are working outside jobs to support their gardening - at The Open Door and managing the Sisters Farmers Market, which revs back up in June (see advertorial this section).

The farmers market will be the garden's primary outlet this year.

The education component is already under way. Students from Sisters IEE (Interdisciplinary Environmental Expedition) class came out to learn to clear, design and build

beds.

The one-acre property also features a greenhouse built by the Tehans, where the starts for the garden are grown. Nagel and Wilkins both expressed profound gratitude for the Tehans' support.

"The Tehans have just been amazing," Nagel said.

Mahonia Gardens (named for the Oregon grape) is a true passion project for Nagel and Wilkins. It's both a symbol of and a means to the creation of a way of life.

"We're doing this because we love to do it," Nagel said. "If we can make money off of it and support ourselves, that would be ideal. But we're going to do it regardless."

For more information on Mahonia Gardens or the Sisters Farmers Market email [email protected]

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

• Email: editor@nuggetnews.com
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