PORTLAND, Ore. — By September, Jennifer Langston had more eggplant than she knew what to do with.
Her tomatoes, normally her most reliable crop, had struggled. The eggplants, though, flourished. Langston harvested so many that she began asking neighbors if they wanted some.
“It really helped me understand what I’m doing and just feel more confident making choices in the garden.”
Around picnic tables under a covered shelter at Nadaka Nature Park near the Portland-Gresham border, other gardeners had their own stories from the summer: squash that flourished despite pests, new varieties of peppers, lettuce that thrived, sunflowers raided by squirrels and tomatoes that cracked after late-season rain.
The Sept. 12 gathering marked the completion of a Seed to Supper course offered by Oregon State University Extension Service Master Gardener volunteers in partnership with Outgrowing Hunger, a Portland-area nonprofit that supports community gardens and access to fresh food.
Seed to Supper is a free beginning gardening course designed to help adults learn to grow some of their own food on a limited budget. It was co-created by OSU Extension and the Oregon Food Bank.
For participants in this class, the lessons went beyond how to plant a garden. They learned how to understand their soil, choose crops, manage pests, harvest food and prepare for another growing season while learning from gardeners facing many of the same questions.
Aria Juchmes said lessons about regenerative gardening and caring for soil were especially useful. Their garden rewarded them with productive shishito peppers and enough basil to make plenty of pesto.
“It really helped me understand what I’m doing and just feel more confident making choices in the garden,” Juchmes said.
Dining and Cooking