Community Garden spreading roots

WORLAND - All summer long, the Worland Community Garden at Newell Sargent Park will be cared for by five AmeriCorps volunteers and three new Kiwanis-sponsored student volunteers.

"We started with one AmeriCorp VISTA five years ago and have expanded to host several part-time AmeriCorps members each summer," said garden manager and University of Wyoming Extension Educator Caitlin Youngquist. "We have a great crew this year, and they are all learning a lot."

AmeriCorps volunteers include Stormy Honomichl, Janet Hofmann, Laura Muse, Christina Smith and Kristin Venable.

Honomichl is the longest-standing AmeriCorps volunteer, having started last summer at the Community Garden. "Last summer I put in 450 hours, this year I did 200," she said, "I started, I would say, just to learn about gardening and it got me out of the house because I'm a stay-at-home mom. I love how peaceful it is and watching things grow. It's so cool to think it all came from just a tiny seed."

For two years, volunteer Venable has lived across the street from the Community Garden. When her neighbor Honomichl started getting involved, Venable became interested. This will be her first year contributing to the garden, she has been helping with social media as well as gardening. Planting techniques such as trellises and coverings have been her favorite thing to learn about, and she has been able to apply that knowledge at her home garden.

The Community Garden started having Coffee Talks on Tuesday mornings with help from Hofmann, who has been coordinating the events. Hofmann began working in the garden this year when she had to make a goal for the Children Youth Program at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "Anything we ask the kids to do, I do as well," Hofmann said.

The kids in the program were asked to choose an emotional, social, and physical goal, and for Hofmann the garden was her social goal.

"I really enjoy getting to know different people and being able to ask questions," Hofmann said. "It's fun to meet people and it gives you a sense of purpose to be able to contribute to the community."

Smith is on her first year of volunteering. She echoed Honomichl's sentiment, saying, "I enjoy the peace and serenity, coming back to nature. I also like learning how to maybe cultivate some food for myself. I really like the team, everybody's so laid back and fun and awesome."

Also on her first year of volunteering is Muse, who helped construct the garden's greenhouse dome in 2020, but was drawn back to service this summer. "I'm putting in as many hours as I can, I'll be here," she said. "We are going to change how the garden is watered; I am doing research in irrigation, so that's pretty interesting stuff. I do have a garden at home; I came here to learn as much as I could so that I could possibly be self-sustainable. We've got some acres and I'd like to utilize them as best I can."

The community garden grows a lot of things, according to Smith. "Definitely food! But also a place of learning and relaxation, stimulation for good ideas. People start to think about nature and planting for themselves, especially when we're putting all of our stuff out there."

Before Youngquist took over in 2015, the garden had been a "Field of Greens" where people could rent their own garden space and utilize it how they wished. Since then, it has developed into a team effort to provide the community with food and an educational resource. Since Youngquist started, they have gone from having one AmeriCorps volunteer to five.

Susan Pennington, now a Community Garden Board Member, first volunteered in the summer of 2017. "Our big goal is to outreach and educate people, but also provide a food source through donations," she said, "We like to weigh the produce and see how much we grow every year and then report that. I think we had 3,000 pounds last year, and one year we did 4,500."

Pennington noted that the Community Garden is able to share their produce with the food pantry, Bighorn Enterprises, O.W.L. Unlimited, the senior center and other organizations. The community supports the garden just as much as the garden supports the community, with businesses like the Big Horn Co-op and Enchanted Gardens donating plants, as well as community members with extra seedlings. The water and mulch is donated by the city.

As part of the Community Garden's educational programs, they will be hosting Coffee Talks every Tuesday from 8-8:45 a.m. through Sept. 28. Topics such as composting and worm composting, nonchemical pest control and spend less time on weeding have been covered this past month, with updates posted on the Worland Community Garden Facebook page. The events are BYOC (Bring Your Own Coffee).

Also on the summer agenda is a children's day camp set for August, with more information to come on that event.Anyone is welcome to join in during the Community Garden's summer hours: Tuesdays 8-10 a.m., Wednesdays 6-8 p.m., and Saturdays 8-10 a.m. Additional times can be set up by calling 347-3431.

"If you don't have a garden space and want to come and dig up a few weeds or if you're a volunteer, you get to take some of the produce we grow!" Pennington said. "We haven't really harvested yet, just some spinach and lettuce. Most of the planting is done, we might fill a few little areas with holes, places that didn't germinate well or had some bug problems. It's fun, all of the different little things. It's great that we have these folks from the community."