BY SYDNEY HOOVER
Mary Kirkendoll said when she started the Eudora Community Garden, she was just grateful to have more time to launch the small garden on Main Street because of the pandemic.
A few months later, that garden is now expanding, with a new location and a donated greenhouse.
“We never imagined that it would grow into something like this that just kind of naturally evolved,” Kirkendoll said.
The garden will be renamed the Eudora Giving Garden. Kirkendoll and other community members involved in the garden are in the process of moving it to a larger plot of land on Nolan and Stephanie Jones’s property, 545 W. 20th St.
The garden also received just over $31,000 in funding through the CARES Act, a federal fund to help with coronavirus aid.
“I love that there's a chance for people to do good because of [the pandemic],” Kirkendoll said. “And I really hope that there's a lot more people that get to have a chance like this.”
The funding will primarily be used to move the greenhouse to the new plot of land, put down a gravel parking lot, and put in electricity and water, Kirkendoll said.
The land is currently a soybean field. It should be cleared by the end of the year to begin working on the new garden.
“We're hopeful that everything will come together on it and, you know, our ability to help out however we can in that area, because there are a lot of folks that are struggling,” Nolan Jones said.
The garden was originally started to provide fresh produce to seniors in Eudora. Kirkendoll said although it couldn’t provide the seniors with a week’s worth of food, it was meaningful to receive a basket of some fresh fruits and vegetables hand delivered to their homes.
Head farmer Aman Reaka said the greenhouse and additional land will allow them to not only provide produce to seniors, but also to fundraise through sales of some of what is grown there.
“If you have the money, you basically got your own farmers market right here in town,” Reaka said. “And we will have pretty much everything that any farmers market would have all right here. Fresh, healthy, organic food almost year round with the greenhouse.”
Reaka will be the only paid staff member for the garden, and will do the majority of gardening and other work on the garden.
Reaka said going forward, he could see the garden continuing to expand. He said he has an interest in providing classes on how to cook with different vegetables. He said it will also continue to accept donations of time, money and resources from the community.
“The big deal is just access to food right here in town that will be better than anything anybody's going to get anywhere else,” Reaka said. “I can promise you that.”
Reach reporter Sydney Hoover at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
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