The Pumpkin Patch

This summer a group of energetic individuals with Osage Nation Communities of Excellence (COE) and Ta-Wa AmeriCorps took on the endeavor to setup a community garden along Bird Creek in Pawhuska. Six acres located at 1st and Prudom had been previously utilized by AmeriCorps member Tom Trumbly who turned the property over to COE with approval by the City of Pawhuska. The acreage was overgrown with Johnson grass from an overly rainy spring.

AmeriCorps Program Coordinator Katelyn Rulo and some staff began to rake and dig the ground, but a snake and other pests as well as hard ground and weeds required a different approach. This collaborative effort included Bobby Tallchief with the Osage Nation Emergency Management. The property is just outside city limits and permission for a controlled-burn had to be obtained from the City of Pawhuska and Osage County Commissioners. Next, the acreage was brush hogged and three acres were tilled for planting.

The objectives for this project were several and included:

One goal was to involve the community either by volunteering with the groups in the large garden or by tending personal, smaller plots within the six acres.

Another was to expand the groups’ current involvement with the Head Start program.

The groups also wanted to practice a more natural approach to gardening. The burned foliage was reintroduced to the soil during tilling. Pests were controlled by a solution of Dawn dish detergent and vinegar. At one point during the growing season bugs became too numerous, so an organic spray had to be used on the plants. The only problem that was not remedied was the raccoons and deer. Again because the property is just outside the city limits, no fencing or wire could be used due to possible harm to any passersby tripping and falling. So the larger pests have been dining on the pumpkins; ripping them open and eating the tasty insides.

The Ta-Wa Gardening Team is taking the advice of Elders and spraying with “deer repellant” which does not have an odor inviting for humans.

Why were pumpkins the plant of choice? Well, Osage Nation Communities of Excellence and Ta-Wa AmeriCorps have been planting seeds of all sorts, this year, everywhere they could put a container of dirt. The alleyway behind their offices grew a variety of vegetables. The sidewalk in front of the offices currently is growing okra and peppers. Inside the lobby of their offices are two other forms of gardening: aquaponics (a combination of water containers for fish and plants) and the recycling of two-liter plastic bottles as a small planting container (a good idea for children). They also work in the heirloom garden at the Osage Cultural Center.

Pumpkins were just the seed the group decided on for the three acre section and after gathering over 200 seeds, this July the team of nearly two dozen planted them.

Ta-Wa AmeriCorps Program Coordinator Katelyn Rulo said the experience has been one of trial and error. But it looks like a success.

Presently, the pumpkins are still green, but plans for the Head Start children to visit the garden are being arranged. The group hopes to plant the whole six acres next year. There will be pumpkins planted, of course, but the plans are to plant anything and everything they can.