It is possible to describe how the Common Ground Garden in the Friendly Neighborhood came into being, but it may be better simply to celebrate the serendipity that created the opportunity of its being, and the intelligence of the people who recognized that opportunity.

Anne Donahue, City of Eugene Compost Specialist, and Chris Donahue, General Manager at Down to Earth, live on Van Buren Street next to the road end at 23rd Avenue. This section of 23rd is closed to through car traffic. Anne mowed the road end for years, then began planting a strip of tomatoes and beans there each summer. She wanted her labor to be transformed into fresh food for her neighbors.

Across Van Buren from Anne’s and Chris’ home was a larger piece of the road end. One day, neighbor Carlos Barrera mentioned to Anne how perfect he thought that piece would be for gardening. The next summer Doug Black organized a Friendly Neighborhood bike tour, and Anne’s and Chris’ garden was a featured stop. Again, that road end teased the group as a natural neighborhood gardening site. The final straw came when Robin Scott’s year-old Friendly Farmer website (click on “more info” at the end of the article) polled it’s members on interest in using the 23rd Avenue road end for gardening. The response was a resounding, “YES!”

And so the Common Ground Garden was born. The first group meeting was in September 2009 and ground was broken in October. The group spoke with the City Permits Department, got permission to proceed from adjacent land owners, ordered a LOCATE for underground wires, and hired a tractor to till in the horse manure and chips that were arriving on-site. A major concern was aesthetics. The public nature of the site made it important to get the garden looking good as quickly as possible. To that end the garden sought a grant from the City of Eugene Neighborhoods Program which provided funding to install an information kiosk, the garden shed, tools, irrigation and soil amendments.

Their soils are heavy and wet in winter. The site was tilled, then beds were constructed. That work party slogged through mud sticky enough to pull their boots off, and the garden would not have won any beauty contests at that point. But, in May and June 2010, things began to look up. The grass was green, the beds formed, horticultural paper and heavy felt were laid in pathways and covered with copious amounts of donated wood chips, and young vegetables were planted. The garden was underway, and none too soon, for it was a stop on the BRING tour in June, an amazing transformation from rough field to growing garden in just a bit over six months. That is an extraordinary accomplishment. You can see more photos on the Friendly Farmer website.

This August, the Friendly Neighborhood Green Bike Tour’s last stop was the Common Ground Garden and Anne’s & Chris’ backyard once more. The bounty of this garden was on display and ready to be offered into the hands of neighbors. This is not a community garden in the traditional sense. Gardening takes place every weekend at Common Ground and all neighbors are welcome. The produce is for all to share.

Oddly, that generosity is one of the educational challenges. Perhaps we have forgotten the art of sharing, for people seem shy about taking produce away. Perhaps our eating habits make planning to incorporate fresh food in a meal more challenging than we're now accustomed to. The gardeners at Common Ground have realized their physical vision, now they are working on educational outreach.

You are welcome to visit Common Ground, nibble the food you find, help with the gardening (10 am to noon on the first two Saturdays of each month, and from 2 to 4 pm on the second two Sundays), and take food home. There is a picnic table available, a beautiful sign board kiosk with repurposed sports equipment bench, and a whimsical barn that is also totally practical created from recycled materials by Resurrected Refuse Action Team (www.rractionteam.com).

Produce from the Common Ground Garden will be part of the welcome back Watermelon Feed at nearby Adams Elementary School this fall. Excess produce is delivered to local churches.

What is happening at Common Ground is news to be elated with: a garden, local food, cooperative labor. What is sustainability? This is.