Abundant Community Resources for Everyone
The Big ACRE is Good Cheer’s one-acre farm that grows food for South Whidbey Good Cheer Food Bank and South Whidbey School District cafeterias.
The Big ACRE is located behind the Bayview School at Bayview Corner. When the South Whidbey School District consolidated the district, Good Cheer Garden staff were approached to take over the school garden that had been part of the alternative school. The 300 square ft garden became a project of the Good Cheer apprentices to practice the field management skills they were learning during their program.
The land next to this small garden used to be a baseball field and was slowly being overtaken by blackberry and scotch broom. Our former garden manager, Camille, saw the potential in the unused plot and petitioned the school district and Good Cheer board in late 2015 to turn it into a larger growing space. The project was approved and we broke ground in early 2016, clearing the invasive plants, installing a 6-foot deer fence, tilling in the grass and spreading more than 60 yards of compost! Volunteers were a critical part of making this project a reality. The land is still owned by the school district and as part of the agreement, some of the produce we grow goes to the South Whidbey School cafeterias and garden program.
While the Good Cheer Garden grows the small amounts of produce of we need during the summer, the goal of the the Big ACRE is to supply produce during the fall, winter and early spring. These are the seasons when the highest number of shoppers use the food bank and produce available from other sources is at the lowest. It allows us to get closer to having a steady supply of produce all year round.
We focus on growing storage crops like winter squash, potatoes and garlic, and cold-hardy crops that overwinter in the field. These crops are planted in mid-summer so they fully mature before we lose light in early November. In of our mild maritime climate, the ambient temperature mimics a refrigerator; the crops in the field go dormant, so while they don’t grow, they also don’t die, and we can harvest what we need November to April. But because the plants don’t regrow, we have to make sure we have enough planted in October to last us until our first plantings each spring are ready to take over. A small portion of the field and two of our hoophouses grow extra of the favorite spring and summer crops like fava beans, spinach, carrots, early green beans, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant.
Our regular winter and spring offerings include celery, parsnips, carrots, beets, celery root, lettuce/salad mix, chicory, leeks, cabbage, kale, chard, spinach, cauliflower, purple sprouting broccoli, brussels sprouts, daikon radishes, kohlrabi, arugula, fava beans, scallions, cilantro, and parsley, just to name a few!
In 2019 we started moving toward no-till practices. Our soil is very sandy and we noticed that the beds we didn’t till had much better structure and more earthworms (a sign of a healthier soil food web). We got rid of our tractor tiller, purchased some tarps to aid in cover crop termination, and started the long process of remineralizing our soil. Research is starting to show that the nutritional quality and flavor of our food is directly correlated to the health of the soil. It turns out there is a reason no one likes vegetables anymore–modern vegetables available at most grocery stores just don’t taste good!
We want to grow the most nutritionally-dense and delicious produce in order to fully nourish our community.
Good Cheer Food Bank Garden 