Trials and Tribulations of Growing Pumpkins in a Box

Discovering the JBLM Community Gardens

Life has a funny way of calling the shots sometimes.

I was up against a rut in my life in 2020, and I decided to sign a three-year active duty contract with the U.S. Army. I was no stranger to being a Soldier, having served as a medic in the U.S. Army Reserve since 2008. But this was different. This time, I was 31 years old, college educated, and commissioning as a Second Lieutenant. I signed up to serve as an Emergency Room Nurse.

When one joins the Army, it is usually with the idea of “traveling the world,” and my intention was no different. After living in Seattle for the better part of my whole life, I was ready for a change. I resided in the same Lower Queen Anne apartment and worked at the same Beacon Hill hospital on and off for ten years; so needless to say, I needed some different scenery.

The hardest part about moving away from Seattle was NOT quitting my nursing job or vacating my beloved basement apartment or moving further away from my family and friends… The hardest part was leaving Jubilee Farm, the farm I loved after “worksharing” there for seven years. (See Blog Post: “Hacking Pumpkins with Machetes at Jubilee Farm.”) As you might imagine, saying goodbye to the farm left a huge void in my life. But I was determined to do what I went to college to do, so I put on my big girl pants and got a big girl job as an Army Nurse Corps Officer.

In the process of submitting the direct commission packet, I had the option to voice my preference for duty station assignment. I told the Army healthcare recruiter that my top choices were: #1) Germany #2) Hawaii and #3) Bethesda, Maryland.

The Army got back to me eventually and told me the choices were narrowed down between Fort Belvoir, Virginia, or Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), WA.

Since the whole point of joining active duty was getting away from home, I told the Army my choice was Fort Belvoir.

A few days later they told me I was getting assigned to JBLM.

My initial reaction was disbelief. How could it be possible, that the only vacant billet for an Emergency Room Nurse was at JBLM?

But that was the way the Army cookie crumbled… so after going away to Texas for a few months to learn how to be a commissioned officer, I came right back to my home state of Washington.

It was May of 2021 when I arrived at JBLM. I knew JBLM well due to previous assignments at three different Reserve units on JBLM over years I served as a medic. Nevertheless, this was my first time living and working on JBLM full time, so I became intimate with this Army base in ways I never had before.

Sometime in late May 2021, I was still in-processing at JBLM, staying at the hotel on base while I waited for my permanent housing arrangements. I was feeling stir crazy being indoors because the spring weather was so perfect – mild mornings, heating up to tank top temps by the afternoon. I had a desperate urge to get out in the dirt. A random thought compelled me to Google, “JBLM garden” and it brought me to the JBLM MWR (Morale, Welfare, Recreation) website. I was shocked to find that MWR was advertising an opportunity for a raised garden bed rental at a community garden on JBLM? How come I never knew there were community gardens on JBLM?

I went to the MWR as fast as I could and rented four plots for $25 each at the Lewis North Community Garden. I remember standing impatiently in line at the MWR, giddy with excitement, about to jump out of my boots at the opportunity to garden again. There’s another garden on the Air Force side of base, the McChord Community Garden, but the Lewis North location was more convenient for me. It’s about a half-acre in size, sandwiched between the horse boarding stables and a RV storage lot, slightly north from the Lewis Army Museum. Even though you can see and hear the hum of Interstate-5 from the garden grounds, it still feels scenic due to being tucked away at the base of a small hill, lined by a forest grove on its backside.

When I arrived at the Lewis North Garden, I noticed about 30 raised garden plots in total, measuring 10 x 4 x 1 feet. A few plots were tended – some more meticulous and manicured than others. Many plots were completely overgrown with waist high weeds and grasses. I picked the four beds that were the unruliest and got to work eradicating tangles of weeds until I could see the soil again.

Since I got a late start, I bought transplants that first year instead of trying to start anything from seed. Some transplants came from local nurseries, but most were purchased at the Olympia Farmers Market. (Thanks to Rising River Farm and Spring Creek Farm for growing the best transplants)!

I grew quite the variety of crops that first year. The first plot contained a few varieties of cherry tomatoes, tomatillos, and ground cherries. Rainbow chard, romaine, kale, cucumbers, pole beans, and some herbs were planted in the second plot. In the third plot, I tried to grow squashes, pumpkins, and sunflowers. Finally, bush beans, kohlrabi, and lettuce occupied the fourth plot.

By and large, the garden was a huge success that year. Despite a record-breaking heat wave of over 100 degrees in the end of June, my plants somehow survived. Amazingly, I had a bumper crop of tomatillos and tomatoes… I grew so many tomatillos that I canned a dozen pints of salsa, in addition to making fermented tomatillo salsa, and dehydrated tomatillos. I grew some GIANT kohlrabi, the biggest I’ve ever seen! I also met some inspiring fellow gardeners, some of whom continue to be my garden companions and friends.

It’s important to also acknowledge the struggles we faced that year. The entire garden community struggled with predator pressure from deer who came and demolished many garden crops overnight. We also had a lot of pressure from the birds, which made it nearly impossible to direct sow anything like carrots or radishes without a row cover. We had problems with water leakages, inadequate fencing, lack of bathroom facilities, uneven terrain/landscaping, invasive noxious weeds, and overall lack of oversight/management from MWR.

Regardless of the successes or failures that year, I credit the garden for helping me get through my first year on active duty. It gave me a space to seek solitude, where I could retreat to the company of my plants and the surrounding natural world. During a tumultuous time in my life, the garden grounded me. I was a new woman – new job, new house, new rank – but the garden kept me tethered to who I am at the core. I was adamant about watering every day after work, no matter how awful my shift was at the hospital. No matter how tired I was. No matter if I was rotating on day or night shift, I retreated to my garden oasis every day. This little garden haven on North Fort Lewis successfully filled the void that was empty inside of me since I left Jubilee Farm.

I learned a lot about myself that year. I proved to myself that no matter what is going on in my life, no matter how many uncontrollable forces try to uproot me, I will find a way to grow things. It is my purpose. I won’t let the Army, or my work, take me away from who I am and what brings me joy. Although I’m not religious, I believe there was some cosmic reason why I was stationed at JBLM; it wasn’t just a coincidence. I was put here so I could find this garden and bring it back to life. Despite trying to leave home and embark on a fresh start, "the powers that be" convinced me that I had unfinished business in my home state of Washington. Pragmatically, I thought relocating far away from home would be a good move for my career. But I came to understand that in my heart, I never really wanted to leave home in the first place.

The biggest gardening lesson I learned that year, is that pumpkins and winter squashes don’t grow so well in confined spaces. I planted six different varieties in the same raised bed and threw a couple sunflower transplants in there too. The foliage vined out and spilled over the edges of the bed, but ultimately the vines started to strangulate each other due to lack of space. There was not enough soil depth or nutrition in the soil to allow for growing pumpkins so densely. Since so many vines were choked out and died, my yield was significantly reduced.

If anything, this failure made me more motivated to find a way to grow pumpkins NOT in a box. Cucurbits (pumpkins, squashes, and gourds) are my absolute favorite crops to grow, so I had to figure out how to get them out of confinement. I had to get them into an expansive space where the vines and leaves could sprawl and spread unrestricted. I started to research various land access options… and after months of interviewing and networking… I was offered a lease on an acre of prime farmland in the Independence Valley. Despite working full time as an Army Nurse and preparing to deploy overseas, it was an opportunity I couldn’t let down. I was ALL in.

Please stay tuned for the next blog post about breaking ground on the one-acre lease and planting the seeds at Chainy-Stakes Farm.

Copyright, all rights reserved, 2022, Kayla McCarthy.

(Author’s whereabouts upon publication: Hotel room, Miami, Florida, attending Army pre-deployment training).