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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Crank shooting call likely a case of 'SWAT-ing,' Medford police say ... Suspected car thief found asleep in stolen vehicle in Ashland ... Cooking oil fire damages SOU-owned house, displaces two ... Crank shooting call likely a case of 'SWAT-ing,' Medford police say ... Suspected car thief found asleep in stolen vehicle in Ashland ... Cooking oil fire damages SOU-owned house, displaces two ... NUTRITION P. Annie's Secret Garden uses food-growing volunteers to feed people in need Comment By Buffy Pollock for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Buffy Pollock for the Mail Tribune Posted Aug. 13, 2015 at 12:01 AM By Buffy Pollock for the Mail Tribune Posted Aug. 13, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Social News P. Annie's Secret Garden is growing faster than a zucchini plant in the peak of summer. P. Annie's started with a few donated garden plots and a goal of sharing produce with seniors and veterans. It is now a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit boasting 40 garden plots, along with a network of community green thumbs adding their own home-grown produce donations for locals in need. The project began with Brooke Sanders, who was facing an empty nest, living in east Medford with her now 76-year-old mother. "My son had decided he was leaving home and joining the Air Force and, somewhat teary-eyed, I looked at my mom and said, 'Well, now what are we going to do with ourselves?'" Sanders says. "We had silently already been donating to senior citizens and food pantries when we could. We decided we would expand that to taking care of veterans coming home," Sanders says. "We decided we would wrap them in a warm blanket of love when they came home and give them the opportunity to toil in the dirt and have access to clean food." The idea sprouted last summer within the confines of Sanders' 1925 property along Queen Anne Street in Medford and has grown into a regional effort with impacts Sanders says she never could have anticipated. Named in honor of a sister named Patricia Ann, whom Sanders lost to cancer, the effort provides community education about how to grow and prepare healthful meals. The effort also funds installation of raised garden beds wherever they are welcome. Garden hosts help tend donated garden plots, then keep two-thirds of what is grown. They donate the rest to P. Annie's recipients who are unable to tend a green space of their own. Thus far, Sanders is connected to people through Habitat for Humanity, Head Start and a slew of local caseworkers. Sanders says the idea is more effective than the concept of having people use a centrally located community garden. "Turns out," she says, "when it's 90 degrees on a good day, in the middle of summer, the idea of having to load kids up in a stroller and walk all the way to go weed for a neighborhood plot to maybe bring home a few zucchini is just more than most people can do." Sanders says she offers empathy — she's been in the same shoes as the community's most vulnerable — along with an attainable idea of how to break the cycle of poverty and improve eating habits, while empowering neighbors to help themselves and those around them. "And I tell them, 'I'm going to give you this lifeline so that you can grow clean food, and that they're going to grow so much that after you fill up your pantry then you're going to have enough left over to help Mr. Jones down the street.'" Michelle Gury, the west Medford hub director for P. Annie's, lives in a Habitat for Humanity house and says the concept of "gardening for a stronger community" appealed to her family when she got involved two months ago. "We have our garden, which takes up a majority of our backyard, and we just did another small garden at another Habitat home," Gury says. "It's about wanting to provide sustainable food for our family and our neighborhood. I feel like we're all helping to build strong roots in our community to help families from the ground up." East Medford resident Michelle Gauthier, an admitted green thumb, loved the idea of P. Annie's enough that she's tending a half-dozen planter beds with help from her Girl Scout troop. "I got involved with P. Annie's Garden because I love the idea of organic gardening and teaching others of the benefits behind it," she says. Sanders says her ultimate goal is an expanded "home base" with room for classes, more gardens and a market atmosphere for food distribution. "We have already determined that we can't grow enough food to supply the demand, and we want people to seek out this clean food instead of the garbage that we see on television with rabbits jumping out of cereal boxes and hot dogs that sing and dance," Sanders says. "We do come into this world with a purpose," she adds. "We just have to step outside of ourselves and find out what that purpose is. This is what I was put here to do." For details, see www.panniessecretgarden.org . Buffy Pollock is a freelance writer living in Medford. Email her at [email protected]. By Buffy Pollock for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Buffy Pollock for the Mail Tribune Posted Aug. 13, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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