The William N. Pennington (WNP) Life Center is truly a place centered on life and the many aspects of it. The Center offers a number of services to the community, and this year they are introducing a new outdoor program called the Community Gardens. The new garden area is located on the south side of the WNP building, delineated by a mid-height block wall and is nicely groomed, well-organized and even has its own mailbox.
WNP recently brought in Anita Lamb as their Garden Educator for this new growth opportunity that is already blooming at the Center. The Community Gardens are part of a three-prong program by WNP called Healthy Aging that also includes cooking and exercise instruction. The garden program is funded by a UNR Cooperative Extension grant along with some funding received from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Education that invests in healthy aging programs. Lisa Erquiaga, Executive Director of the WNP Life Center said, “Senior centers are at the hub of the community wheel, but we want to bring all other ages in too so that there's a mixture here, and what better place to mix things up but in the dirt.”
Lamb, also known as the Center's Garden Goddess, has set up the new garden area with Harveks Garden Towers and Cubes. They include 14 two-sided six-foot tall tower stations and four four-foot-wide cube planter stations. Each tower will be assigned to one or two people or families (one person or family per side). The cube planters will be assigned one per family. Three towers are still available along with the four family cubes. Lamb said that new gardeners get excited when they have something to show already, so she has pre-filled the assigned garden stations with some basic cold weather vegetables like peas, arugula, lettuce and swiss chard. These plants along with the beets, bok choy, lettuce and kale are already growing well in the planters.
There is also a series of community planters that are being maintained by WNP, and the produce from those will be shared with the gardeners. Cherry, Roma and Beefsteak tomato plants have been started inside walls of-water planters that look like orange road cones. Lamb said, “These planters hold three gallons of water, and that would all have to freeze before the cold will hit the plant.” There are several elevated tub planters that are being used for plants that would get too big for the towers or cubes. Beets, carrots and four types of climbing cucumbers are growing in one tub, and three types of zucchinis are in another. Then there are these cool looking covered elevated tubs that are reminiscent of mini covered wagons, minus the wheels. They contain a variety of herbs, cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage plants, and have already sustained temperatures below 16 degrees. Various lettuce plants are growing in another covered tub, but it gets picked as soon as it grows. Lamb said, “I had to put everyone on hold this week because the plants should be much bigger but they keep picking them.” Plants were put in these covered planters only about three weeks ago and they are already producing. There is also a covered cube filled with strawberries plants that are growing like crazy.
Lamb also has four AeroGarden seed starters inside. These little machines have their own grow lights and the seeds are started in cone-shaped biodegradable sponges with water circulating below that keeps the sponges moist. Each machine has about nine sprouts growing at a time. She has also started potato plants in toilet paper rolls and those are sprouting too. All sprouts will get transferred outside soon.
The grant requires that gardeners document their time spent in their garden, so on each visit, the gardeners fill out a small form and leave it in the mailbox. This also provides the Center with a way to keep track of who is coming in and when. Everything needed for growing is included in the program and there is no fee, so the gardeners just have to visit, water their own plants and enjoy the results. A gardener will lose their garden if it becomes neglected, so the only requirement is to “mind your own piece,” said Erquiaga. Garden stations are assigned on a first come basis, so a person just has to sign up and care for it, that's it. For more information on signing up, contact the Life Center at 423-7096.
On March 24 WNP will hold a new virtual event via Zoom featuring the three segments of their Healthy Aging program: Peek Into Our Garden Project will be about the Community Gardens, a cooking class called Seniors Eating Well will be presented and an exercise class called Bingocize will also be demonstrated. The Center's service offerings have grown beyond the lunches its still serves every day, even though COVID has caused them to only offer them by driveup pick-up service. They do also still run the Meals on Wheels home delivery food pro- gram, provide monthly activities and care- giving support in addition to the gardening, cooking and exercise classes. The Center even offers free tax help through the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. Yes indeed, the WNP Life Center really is a place that is centered on life and the many aspects of it.
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