STARS IN THE SKY VALLEY: Centennial garden director digs dirty work

By Valeria Rae

Adopt A Veggie. What is that all about? Marilee Schneider, director of the Julia V. Morris Centennial Garden, and her crew invite the Sky Valley community to adopt a veggie in the garden and have the fun of nurturing it from seed to harvest this summer. The produce will go to the Sky Valley Food Bank, where it will feed many hungry families.

The JVM Garden is located on Sky River Parkway, next to the food bank and down the street from the Monroe Library. Julia V. Morris, who also opened the food bank on the site, donated the land to the city. She passed away in 1999.

In that year, 14-year-old Health Hilton, with inspiration from his father, Wes, raised $3,000 that was matched by the city to develop the adjacent quarter acre into a garden. His efforts earned him his Eagle Scout badge. The mission of the garden was to raise produce for the food bank, which it has been doing ever since.

In 2011, Marilee took on the role of director and responsibility of refurbishing the garden, which had become run down. She said it took two years and six dump-truck loads of rubbish to clean up the area. She is the first to point out the garden's success is a result of many helping hands.

In addition to Marilee, JoJo Pinnell, Chris Albus and Jeannette Susor, president of the Garden Club, and many other volunteers contribute their expertise and time. Folks from the senior center, the garden club and locals who love to get their hands dirty drop in and work for a few hours. It all adds up to fresh garden produce to feed the hungry. Last year alone, the garden provided 4,600 pounds of food, which would have cost at least $10,000 at a grocery store.

You will find Marilee in the garden most Sundays, planting, weeding, harvesting or sharing her Master Gardener wisdom. In planning the garden, Marilee determines which vegetables will be needed to fill in the gap left by what is not donated by local famers.

She grows the starts from donated seeds, organizes volunteers and teaches classes on how to grow your own food at the Monroe Library. The big opening day this year is Saturday, April 2, when many volunteers will be needed to help wake up the garden and plant this summer's crop.

When asked how Marilee got started as a gardener, she relates the tale of being uprooted from city life in Oakland, California, by her father in 1955 and moved to an old hop farm in the Sacramento Valley. Her father, an optometrist, commuted back to the city while Marilee, her three siblings, mother and her mother's maid worked the farm. This is where Marilee learned that she "liked dirt.GÇ¥

Marilee loved to work in the garden and nurture the land. After attending art school, she became a real estate agent and a mortgage banker in California. When offered the chance to transfer to the Northwest, this avid gardener readily agreed, and eventually settled in Monroe.

She became a Master Gardener with the WSU Snohomish County Extension Service. Marilee brings her knowledge and expertise to the JVM Centennial Garden. For her, it is a labor of love, and she is very proud of the ever-increasing amount of healthy food being produced to feed families.

Marilee encourages folks to visit, take a walk among the plants, ask questions, do a bit of weeding and learn more about how to grow a garden of their own. She emphasizes that mistakes are a way of learning and it is important to have the courage to try and, if you don't succeed, try again.

Marilee has shared her wisdom with many intrepid would-be gardeners. She relates a story of finding carrots lying on the ground with a bite taken out of each one. Eventually, a boy named Leo shyly wandered in and asked, "Do you like carrots? Me too, but why are they so dirty?GÇ¥ Delighted, Marilee showed Leo how to wash the carrots and knew she had made a convert.

Improvements have been made to the garden over the years. Susor contributed a birdbath that has attracted a couple of crows; Cheryl and Russell Crow have become the garden's mascots. The covered garden bench was refurbished last year, and a sign posting upcoming classes and events is now on site. And just this month, the old shed was replaced by a new one funded by the Food Bank as a thank you to all the volunteers.

The Julia V. Morris Centennial Garden is a gift to our community, not only because of the wonderful sustaining food it produces for the food bank, but for the wealth of information and inspiration it generates. Come and be a part of this rewarding experience

Marilee Schneider can be reached at 425-752-2445 or m.schneider9741@notmail.com. Don't forget to check out the JVMGarden Facebook page.