A History Lesson

By Michelle Strand (Claire’s coworker)

It may seem like community gardens are just beginning to pop up in Pierce County but the truth is they have been around for years. Kirsten McIvor (a Seattle P-Patch trust board member, UW PhD student using and researching TAGRO, and a founder of Grow Local Tacoma) compiled the following history from personal conversations she had with people who were active in community gardens in Pierce County over the years including, Marina Becker (Metro Parks), Carrie Little (Guadalupe Gardens – now Mother Earth Farm), Steven Garrett (former Director of the Tahoma Food System), and Sue Bernstein.

• 1960s: over 30 community gardens existed in Pierce County run by the Tacoma Urban League and used mainly by low-income and immigrant families.

• 1980s: 18 gardens on both public and private land were transferred to Metro Parks.

• 1990s, Carrie Little and others began to build Guadalupe Gardens and programs like WSU’s Cascade gleaning network and the Salishan garden were thriving.

• 2006: leaders in the gardening community met for discussion with Metro Parks about increasing the number of community gardens/gardeners in Tacoma.

• 2007 Grow Local Tacoma was formed (called Tacoma Gardens initially), the website Exit 133 helped get tacomagardens.com, now Grow Local Tacoma, up and running and the First Community Garden Tour was planned.

• 2008 Grow Local Tacoma continued its outreach efforts, Metro Parks gardens were filled to capacity and people were on the waiting list. Community gardens started in Orting, Graham, and Puyallup and conversations happen about how to increase capacity for Community gardens in Tacoma/Pierce County.

Community gardens have gained publicity and popularity more recently with individuals finding alternatives to the rising costs of food, the heightened awareness of individuals about the environmental impact of mass-producing and shipping food and gardening programs being implemented in schools. Alas, Pierce County is making great progress, creating awareness about eating, buying, growing and acting local! Yeah Grow Local Tacoma! More on the great school gardening programs soon…