Community Garden gets an extra year

The Sisters Community Garden received some good news last week. The organization was asked earlier in the year to find a new place for its 50 members to garden. The Sisters Community Garden has occupied land adjacent to Sisters Eagle Airport since 2012. This spring, the Benson family, who own the airport, notified the board of directors that expansion plans include utilizing the garden area.

Now the Benson family has offered the nonprofit organization another year to garden at its current location.

“This unexpected gift is quite a relief to us,” said Janie Boyl, garden manager. “We have been diligently working to find a place to move our garden beds and greenhouse, but have no strong leads at this time.”

A site search committee has been meeting with private and public landowners in the Sisters area to discuss possible options for a permanent location. Ideally, the new garden would measure about a half-acre of land, have access to water and electricity, and get plenty of sun. The board of directors plans to salvage as much material as possible from the current space. Plans also include disassembling the 20-by-40-foot greenhouse to move it to a new location.

“We are extremely grateful and feel very fortunate to have been able to use this land at no charge for all these years,” said Mimi Schaefer, board president.

“The Benson family also has generously covered some of the costs associated with the Garden,” she added.

In addition to 49 garden beds that members use, the community garden also has shared vegetable, herb, berry, and flowerbeds. Members also tend apple trees, a butterfly garden, a composting area.

The goal of the Sisters Community Garden is to establish a beautiful place that fosters community connections among Sisters area residents. The garden serves as a gathering place for a mosaic of people, a venue for education, a farm-to-table resource for local food banks, and an opportunity to realize the benefits and pleasure derived from gardening.