NEWS
A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
Community garden gets
ready for planting season
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
The
Lovin’ Spade-
fuls Community Garden in
Hermiston was abuzz with
more than just the insects on
Saturday, April 17, as volun-
teers had a work party to get
the garden in shape.
On-site registration for
plots at the garden, avail-
able on a first-come-first-
served basis for $10 for
the season, will be Friday,
April 30, from 4-7 p.m.
and Saturday, May 1, from
9 a.m. to noon. The garden
is located on the Elm Street
side of the Good Shepherd
Health Care System cam-
pus. Plots still available
after the on-site registra-
tion days will be available
for signup at the Umatilla
Morrow Head Start/WIC
offices.
As the garden celebrates
its 10-year anniversary this
summer, it boasts new ame-
nities, including 10 raised
plots. Garden director Chelle
Hankinson said the raised
beds, lifted up a few feet
off the ground by wooden
boxes, are geared toward
elderly gardeners and those
with disabilities that make it
difficult for them to kneel in
the dirt.
“We’re helping every
demographic we can,” she
said.
On April 17, volunteers
were using wood stain to
help protect the newly con-
structed raised beds, while
others were putting together
the irrigation systems for
them. Other volunteers had
Jade McDowell/Hermiston Herald
Uppa Shakya, left, and her husband Suva Shakya paint wood stain on the new raised beds at
Lovin’ Spadefuls Community Garden in Hermiston on Saturday, April 17, 2021.
already worked to lay out
the painted bricks that mark
off each plot, and painted
buckets with colorful inspi-
rational messages.
Husband and wife Suva
and Uppa Shakya were
working together to spread
wood stain over one of the
raised beds.
“We’ve been with the
garden since the beginning,”
Suva said. “Our daughter
running around over there
was in her belly when we
started.”
Uppa said they enjoy
bringing their children to
the garden each summer
to teach them how to grow
their own food. The family
also enjoys the fresh pro-
duce they receive from it
all summer, including toma-
toes, beans, okra, garlic,
onions and melons.
As the garden prepares to
open for the season, Hankin-
son said the community
continues to be incredibly
generous.
The new raised beds were
paid for by a $4,800 grant
from the Good Shepherd
Community Health Foun-
dation plus other private
donations, including lumber
from Home Depot and irri-
gation parts from Elmer’s
Irrigation.
Hankinson said they plan
to create a small oasis of
grass, flowers and a bench in
the center of the garden this
year for people to rest from
weeding or planting.
Over the years the gar-
den has also added a secu-
rity camera system, a shed
with tools for garden mem-
bers to use, an improved irri-
gation system, a greenhouse,
new signs and other ameni-
ties. The Master Garden-
ers program has a plot with
culinary herbs that this year
will include additional signs
about how to grow and use
the herbs.
“I just keep reaching
for the stars, and they just
keep falling into my hands,”
Hankinson said.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
Umatilla Museum
preparing to reopen
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
After more than a year
of closure, the Umatilla
Museum is preparing to
reopen.
Unless Umatilla County
gets shut down with addi-
tional COVID-19 restric-
tions, board member
Judy Simmons said, the
museum plans to hold a
grand reopening on Satur-
day, May 8. The museum
closed during the initial
COVID-19 shutdowns in
spring 2020 and hasn’t
been open to the public
since that time.
Simmons said volun-
teers for the museum will
hold a cleaning party on
Saturday, April 24, to dust
shelves and do other things
needed to prepare.
The museum used to
have a paid employee, but
no longer does. Simmons
said the Umatilla Histor-
ical Society, which runs
the museum, is in need of
volunteers who can work
shifts during the museum’s
hours, Thursday through
Saturday from 10 a.m. to
4 p.m.
“Having an employee
here really helped with
getting volunteers,” she
said. “Now we’re going to
solely rely on volunteers.”
The museum features a
variety of displays, includ-
ing sections on the Native
American
tribes
that
first settled the area, the
McNary Dam, the railroad,
pioneer household items
and antique farm equip-
ment. The building was
once the Umatilla city hall
Jade McDowell/Hermiston
Herald
Pictures and maps related
to construction of the
McNary Dam line the walls
of the Umatilla Museum.
and jail, and Simmons said
the most popular room is
the old jail cells.
“People
like
that
because they step inside
and shut the door and get
a picture of themselves in
jail,” she said.
Staff, students and
alumni of Umatilla School
District are working on a
new room, featuring items
from the school district’s
past and a display about the
district’s robotics teams.
The historical society also
filmed interviews with
some of Umatilla’s oldest
residents, which Simmons
said they plan to show on
a television after the videos
are done being edited.
The Umatilla Museum,
911 Sixth St., has a wheel-
chair-accessible
side
entrance for those who
aren’t able to make it up the
step to the main entrance.
People interested in volun-
teering for the museum or
donating Umatilla-specific
artifacts can contact Sim-
mons at 541-571-8780 or
j205simmons@gmail.com.