The Fish Food Bank Garden:

The FISH Food Bank Garden: Feeding the Community In So Many Ways

By Jen Munroe, OSU Hood River County Extension Central Gorge Master Gardener volunteer

FISH Garden Sign

As you have driven along Tucker Rd, you may have seen the FISH (Friendly, Instant, Sympathetic Help) Food Bank, which provides food and sundries to the community. You may not know, though, that tucked behind the food bank is the FISH Food Bank Garden, which grows fresh fruits and vegetables to supply the food bank. While much of the food supplied by the FISH Food Bank comes from community members and local stores, the FISH Garden supplies fresh food often distributed on the day of harvest, such as lettuce, green beans, broccoli, zucchini, winter squash, and plums. They focus on items that are expensive to purchase such as peppers, herbs, and berries. And fresh food that is not distributed by the food bank is composted in the FISH Garden and, in that way, turned into new crops later. A working garden for members of Spirit of Grace Church next door since 2009, in 2015 the FISH Garden became run by volunteers from the OSU Extension Central Gorge Master Gardener program. 

But this garden feeds the community in so many ways, some that you may not have even realized–it is a real hub for nurturing and educating the community as well as a site that welcomes groups to join in and help. Community youth groups regularly come to the garden, including 4H, the Leos, Cub Scouts, HRVHS AVID students, Klahre House, Little Oak Montessori, Hood River Alliance Church, and more. 

The FISH Garden is in so many ways an experimental garden, one that is ever-evolving. The garden provides free hands-on gardening training and information for anyone who wants to come volunteer there. Everyone is invited to join in and lend a hand in the garden from 9am-noon every Saturday (except major holidays). Families can bring children, and people can bring friends or come on their own. And you can stay for the entire time or just a portion of it. While there, you can learn about growing fruit and vegetables as you help the community. 

Madz Wright and Lila Mortenson at the FISH Garden

Photo by Tracy Willett

The FISH garden regularly experiments with different plant varieties to see which grow best in the soil and conditions there. Volunteers test different fruit tree pruning techniques, planting cover crops to replenish soil in the winter, methods to reduce weeds (tarping is the most recent method they’ve tried), and soil blocking (a method for starting seeds for transplant without pots). The Central Gorge Master Gardener Association recently purchased a digital microscope to be used at the garden, which allows people to see the abundance of organisms in the soil and compost. On site worm composting, called vermiculture, is as entertaining and informative as it is nourishing for the soil. New signs are being added to the garden for visitors to learn more about these methods. While you are there helping to grow food for others, you will also be growing your understanding and ability to plant your own food. And the whole family can join in.

Jenn Peterson, Carol Brown, Tim Wear, and Corina Farrar, OSU Extension Central Gorge  Master Gardener Volunteers

Photo by Tracy Willett
While the FISH Garden already welcomes volunteers weekly, it also hopes to continue to expand its educational and service opportunities and invites groups to contact them to set up scheduled visits for education and service. They welcome organizations to do a service program, and are also inviting youth groups for education/service activities. They are developing curriculum units on many aspects of gardening: seeding, soil, weeding, composting and more. If your group would be interested in scheduling a visit (or a series of visits) for education and/or service, please contact info.fishgarden@centralgorgemga.org. Or come on a Saturday between 9am and noon and spend some time with wonderful people who also want to learn more about gardening while they help their community.