The Yamhill County Master Gardener Association is adapting the Chinese proverb, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,” to teach folks to work the land, rather than the sea.
Since its inception in 2019, the organization’s Garden to Table (and Del Jardín a la Mesa) programs have led vegetable gardening classes for low-income and food insecure Yamhill County residents from community gardens at Saint Michael’s Episcopal Church and Deskins Commons, respectively, in Newberg.
Classes are open to adults and teenagers.
“Participants obtain the knowledge and skills and receive the resources needed to grow fresh vegetables in their own gardens,” a release from YCMGA said.
The courses consists of six two-hour weekly classes covering topics ranging from site planning, soils, compost and fertilizer, planting, watering, weeds, bugs, harvesting and storing vegetables. The classes feature both lectures and discussions as well as hands-on activities overseen by volunteers who are Master Gardeners.