A garden oasis: Islanders look to create outdoor space at VCC

Published 2:02 pm Wednesday, March 18, 2015

If the dreams of some of Vashon’s garden visionaries come true, soon they will begin creating a garden at Vashon Community Care (VCC) that would include the most nutritious fruits and vegetables as well as space for recreation, quiet reflection and community gatherings.

The plans for the garden show the half-acre plot north of VCC transformed into four quadrants: a working garden; an arbor-covered area for relaxing and dining; an area for exercise, such as playing a game of croquet, and a performance area, intended for listening to music or a guest speaker. Paths designed to be easy for seniors to navigate connect and encircle the areas, complete with spots designated as “exercise nodes,” where patients taking part in VCC’s rehabilitation program and others could exercise and grow stronger. Currently dubbed the Community Garden of Healthy Living, it would be open not just to VCC residents, but to all islanders, and is intended to be a model that others could follow.

“There is no garden like this on Vashon, and no public garden in Seattle that is this much of an oasis,” said Julia Lakey, who has volunteered as a gardener at VCC for eight years and is one of the organizers of the current effort.

Over the last several months, as potential plans have taken shape, those in the group have grown increasingly enthusiastic.

“Every time I come back to this, I find more I can get excited about,” Lakey said.

Soon those involved will begin fund-raising — speaking to private donors and groups and applying for grants — for what is expected to be a $150,000 project. Enthusiasm for the garden runs high; however, all those involved, from the gardeners behind the effort to staff and board members at VCC, stress that the project cannot take funds away from the care center itself, which continues to struggle financially and must raise nearly twice as much money this year as last to bolster its operating budget.

In fact, Truman O’Brien, who heads the Vashon Community Care Foundation and plans to fundraise for the garden outside of that role, has made it clear he wants donors to choose carefully where they put their money.

“If somebody is going to be a regular donor, please do not donate to the garden if it’s going to take away from operations,” he said.

O’Brien and others close to VCC believe that the garden could, in fact, attract new donors to the center.

“We hope their interest in the garden will bring them to VCC and see more of who we are,” said Chris Beck, a VCC board member who serves as the liaison to the garden group.

President of the VCC board Valerie Howe noted that as word of the project has begun to spread, some people have said to her that if VCC could consider installing such a garden, it must be feeling financially flush. Nothing is farther from the truth, she stressed.

“This is a gift the gardeners are giving to VCC,” she said.

The seeds of the proposed garden were planted last spring, when Lakey visited island author Jo Robinson’s garden on the annual garden tour. Robinson, the author of the best-selling book “Eating on the Wild Side,” has researched food extensively and grows the most nutritious varieties of fruits and vegetables at her home on Maury Island. Lakey, by her own admission, followed Robinson around at the tour as the author spoke to guests, soaking in her knowledge.

“When I went on the garden tour, I just fell in love,” Lakey said.

From there a garden partnership was built and has expanded to include local landscape architect Bob Horsley and garden expert Vor Hosteller. Initially, the proposal was just for a fruit and vegetable garden, but Horsley met with VCC residents and expanded the garden design to include much of what they requested, including areas where they could exercise, relax and eat outdoors.

While those elements are incorporated into the whole, the fruit and vegetable garden, slated to be 5,500 square feet, is central to the project and will feature varieties of fruits and vegetables that have the highest nutritional content, Robinson said, including some varieties that are clinically proven to have health benefits specifically for seniors. Some foods have been shown to help with early stage dementia, low energy, balance issues, macular degeneration and cancer prevention. For example, something as simple as eating wild blueberries and drinking concord grape juice can enhance memory, she said.

While the working garden will be sizeable, it will not be able to feed the residents ample portions all on its own. Robinson said she hopes families of residents will be encouraged to grow specific health-enhancing produce and that community members will too.

“We want gardeners all over this island to grow this package of seeds over that one,” she said, referring to the higher nutritional value some varieties of fruits and vegetables have over others.

Robinson and others involved note that they will also be seeking funds for garden maintenance, as that, too, cannot fall to VCC. They hope that the garden, which will be built in phases as money is raised, will begin this growing season. The first phase will be the vegetable garden, Beck said, and for about $50,000 has the highest price tag of the four sections, as it will include necessary infrastructure such as water and power.

Robinson, enthused about the project for ways that will enhance the lives of current and future residents at VCC,  paints a picture of what is possible with community support.

“Imagine being able to sit around a fountain with aromatic roses infusing the air, and overhead there are ripe grapes and kiwi fruits,” she said. “That is part of the plan.”

To donate or for more information, contact Truman O’Brien at 463-6209.