Since 2016, Ripon has had a garden with a dual mission: supplying food banks with produce while teaching children how to grow things.
It started in a cramped neighborhood on the south side of town and moved to a full acre at 929 West Main Street in 2019. It is now called Garden Joy and it is blooming.
The nonprofit has a mix of paid and free programs. One of the latest was the field trip on Wednesday, May 15 from Ripon Christian School, a short walk away.
Students learned about soil health, including the critical role of worms, and how to read a seed packet. They heard why all crops need water and many crops need pollinators. They finished by planting watermelon seedlings, which will provide food for those in need in a few months.
“I learned a lot about the cycle of plants,” said fifth-grader Malachi Cady. “…I learned a lot about bugs. I also got to know the parts of the plants: the roots, the stems, the leaves.”
There is also a farmer’s market on site
Garden Joy is co-located with the Ripon Farmers Market, held May through September in the parking lot from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM. The group does not sell its own products there, but does receive $35 per week in compensation from each supplier. It also received a $129,000 grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture in 2022.
Garden Joy donates about 10,000 pounds of produce each year, said board member Heather Crooker, who also manages the market. Recipients include at-risk children cared for by Sawyer House in Modesto and Ray of Hope in Manteca. Some products are to the Greater Stanislaus Food Initiativebetter known as FIGS, and at the Escalon CARE Food Pantry.
Garden Joy has two paid employees, manager Rosel Vanderplaats and education coordinator Val Ishmael, and numerous volunteers. It leases the land from the adjacent Studio Joy, which provides Pilates exercise sessions. It was intentional to have “joy” in both names, said studio owner Jolene Peters. It’s all about well-being.
Garden grows all year round
Garden Joy is open all year round, including summer camps. The colder months bring lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, radishes and other treats, like the strawberries that the Christian Ripon students picked and ate. Summer offers tomatoes, corn, peppers, cucumbers, squash and the like. The staff just planted a few trees and vines that will produce peaches, grapes, pomegranates and more for years to come.
The garden is not certified organic, but does use these practices. The soil is enriched with compost made from plant remains and worm castings. Pests are kept under control by other insects that are attracted to the various plants. The crops are irrigated with city water via drip lines.
Ripon Christian’s visitors are in kindergarten and fifth grade. One of the latter is Luke Mayfield, who was impressed by the insect microscope at a station.
“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “I learned that insects have six legs, two antennae, a head and a bottom.”
Fifth-grader Robin Vande Pol shared what she had just gotten from the seed station. “You have to learn how far apart to plant them, how deep and when to grow,” she said.
First site was too small
The first site was launched on Doak Boulevard by Sarah Darpinian and Elizabeth Schuiling. They called it Oak Valley Youth Garden and grew food for the Modesto Gospel Mission and the Manteca chapter of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
The location was part of the Ripon Community Garden, which did not have enough space for the nonprofit to expand. That prompted the move to West Main, on the edge of downtown Ripon.
The public can visit Garden Joy at times when the children are not learning there. On farmers market nights, they can find music, a beer garden and other activities along with the vendors.
And they can view the watermelon patch planted by the Christian Ripon children. Preschool Brayden Lub was one of them.
“I learned about the roots and how they grow, and the seeds, and how the flowers germinate,” he said.
