Peppers grow in abundance Sept. 19, 2024, at the La Grande Community Garden at Eastern Oregon University. The plot was one of four grown the EOU Native American Program and students.

LA GRANDE — Life and camaraderie continues to grow within the La Grande Community Garden at Eastern Oregon University.

One of the goals of the community garden board was to make the space more accessible for people with mobility issues. The paths throughout the garden were difficult to navigate for people with walkers and wheelchairs. The water sources were hard to access, and the garden beds were all low to the ground.

But the community stepped up.

Lucas Hudson collaborated with the board to build a new patio space and raised beds at the garden for his Eagle Scout project. He created a large paved patio area and built three raised garden beds.

“Everyone can come here and garden now,” he said.

Hudson, who attends La Grande High School, was able to fund the nearly $4,000 project through local grants and donations.

Eastern Oregon University redid the piping so a water spigot is available for the raised beds, committee member Margaret Mead said.

The garden as a whole could not operate without Eastern. The university owns the land that is used for the community garden, which is on 13th Street and stretches the length of I and H avenues. EOU donates the land and water for the garden’s use.

The relationship between EOU and the community garden is mutually beneficial. Using the garden provides a great opportunity for students at Eastern, according to Pepper Huxoll, coordinator of the university’s Native American, Indigenous and Rural Programs.

Huxoll, along with several students, took care of four plots at the community garden this year.

“The students who have participated have really enjoyed it,” she said.

Students plants a wide variety of vegetables, including corn, acorn squash, broccoli, brussel sprouts and turnips. They also planted sage, sunflowers and marigolds.

This experience gave the students an opportunity to learn how to be self-sufficient and grow things from seeds to fruition, Huxoll said. They also got to learn different recipes and ways to use the vegetables they’d grown.

Huxoll said she and the students look forward to more community gardening next year.