By Chelsea Royer
Tucked away in a corner of town on the edge of suburbia, lies a patch of land that begins with garden and ends with a pond full of surprises. Paths weave along the edge of the house, lined with fruit bearing trees, succulents, and flowers. It leads past the variety of vegetables and intertwines itself around multiple ponds that meld two backyards into one. Twelve year old Koi fish swim between the lilies as Ron Lofgren rattles off the types of veggies that are in season. After waiting all winter for fresh spinach, he now has more than he knows what to do with.
Lofgren’s gardening days began at the age of five when his mother handed him his first packet of seeds. By age seven, he had his own plot of earth. Sustainable living was not a trend, it was a way of life. His relatives shared a potato and pea patch in which cousins, aunts, uncles, and parents would work in their garden as a family. Butchering his grandmother’s chickens was also a group effort and family members would have organically grown veggies and meat to last them through the winter. It was only natural he would carry on the tradition.
The 40-year-old garden grows all year long. With broccoli and kale in the winter time, berries and artichokes amongst other plants in the spring and summer, Lofgren is never at a loss for fresh foods. Having raised his own beef in the past, he is all about local and organic from the ground up.
Lofgren utilizes everything from concentrated ocean minerals, grass clippings, and organic fertilizers to improve his crops. However, he no longer uses cow manure. “I used to use cow manure but when the farmers started spraying the corn with roundup, I discovered my seeds wouldn’t sprout. I traced it back and discovered that the pesticide stays with the corn through the cow and into the manure and the pesticide stays throughout the entire cycle.”
This discovery only furthered Lofgren’s determination to stay organic. When asked how he felt about genetically modified organisms, he thoughtfully responded, “It’s not the genetic modification that bothers me. It’s the reason why they modified it to begin with.” Rather than wonder about what’s been put into his food, he chooses to grow it himself. For the amount of vegetables and fruit he harvests, one would anticipate many, many hours of work a week. But after years of being proactive about weeds, Lofgren spends maybe four or five hours a week in his garden once planting is done.
But more so than his vegetable garden, Lofgren’s pond garden is what truly catches the eye. With rock being the primary building tool, Lofgren took a year to plan out his landscaping before building. “I used to backpack up in the mountains a lot and love the feel of the outdoors. So I thought I’d bring as much of that to my house as I could so when I got to be 75 years old – oops! That’s how old I am now – I would be able to just sit and enjoy. Sit by the pond, have a glass of wine and wonder what the peasants were doing,” chuckles Lofgren.
The pond doesn’t merely benefit Lofgren, however. It is almost impossible to discern Lofgren’s property from his neighbors. “My neighbor said he’d always wanted a pond…I’d always wanted a pond, so I said, ‘what if we made it look like they all go together. We can keep them separate, but make them look like they run together.’ It has worked out well, Bruce is a great neighbor. People ask, ‘Well, don’t you have any trouble?’ I say, ‘no, we get along perfectly.’ It’s great to get along with your neighbor. Fences keep people apart,” he insists.
However, its not just his Montesano neighbor Lofgren wants to share his enjoyment of the garden with. “I like to have other people come and enjoy it. It’s a nice place to sit. If someone is feeling low or down, well come and sit by the pond. It’s calming. Watch the fish.”
To get an invite to Lofgren’s garden, swing by All Wrapped Up in Montesano. Most afternoons, you will find Lofgren here.
Watch the fish I did – if you ever have the opportunity to visit, you’ll be making up excuses to go back again, just as I have.
