Portland State’s DIY community garden

When Kenna Warsinske walks through campus carrying an armful of bright-red, fresh tomatoes, the junior international studies major is filled with a special pride—the kind that comes from growing the food you eat.

Warsinske’s produce comes from her plot in the Portland State Community Garden, where she’s been planting tomatoes, peppers, carrots and anything else she can think of since she moved to campus three years ago.

“When I got moved into my first apartment on campus, the person who I toured the building with was involved,” Warsinske, 23, said. “I was out there that day.”

The garden is officially part of the Residence Housing Association, but in practice it is a space governed democratically by everyone involved. There is usually a waiting list for getting a plot, with preference given to RHA residents.

Plots are typically 40–60 square feet, and gardeners can grow whatever they like so long as it is grown organically. The garden does discourage planting things that can spread out of control, such as blackberry bushes or ivy.

Plots are assigned in the spring and gardeners may use them for one year before they must reapply.

Alex D’Aurora is a Portland State graduate who still has a plot in the garden. His wife, Shannon, was the garden coordinator for two years before stepping down earlier this year.

“There are a lot of communally run areas,” D’Aurora said. “There’s room for a lot of participation here.”

The garden is still plagued by rumors that some of the soil is tainted by lead poisoning. D’Aurora said there are no more contaminants in the soil than in the air, and that a recent study showed no conclusive evidence of lead poisoning.

“What we tell people is that we’re sure whatever you live with is here,” he said. “If you’re worried about lead, don’t grow things that absorb lead, such as squash.”

D’Aurora said that he has learned much from his involvement with the garden.

“I know a lot more about agriculture here in Oregon,” he said, “the seasons, what to grow, what not to grow.”
He also said he has learned many things that have little to do with gardening.

“These are things city planners have to deal with,” he said in reference to how the garden community deals with allocating plots and resolving conflicts. “The position of coordinator is very hard.”

D’Aurora’s wife was an exception—most coordinators last far less than a year, he said. The position was filled at the beginning of the term, but that person already stepped down and the position is currently filled on an interim basis.

According to Warsinske, people come and go, but the real draw, aside from the community aspect, is starting to understand how food gets from the farm to the table.

“I really didn’t understand where my food came from,” she said. “It is really rewarding.”

The garden, located at Southwest 12th Avenue and Montgomery Street, has grown in recent years since gaining funding about five years ago when it came under the RHA.

“There used to be a dorm here,” D’Aurora said. “[Students] claimed [the land] and started under the radar. Now it’s just a nice place for everybody.”

He is currently working on a special project: growing a gigantic pumpkin that he hopes will draw even more people to the garden. Now just a tiny seedling in a pot, by next October the pumpkin should be an enormous orb with a wicked grin carved into it.

“That’s the plan,” D’Aurora said. “It should be fun.”

Until then, D’Aurora will have to be content caring for the myriad other produce he is growing, including peas, lettuce, radishes, carrots, strawberries and tomatoes.

“We absolutely love it,” he said with a smile, giving his dog, Samwise, a pat and kneeling down in the soft soil to pull weeds.