On a warm summer morning, the IWAKT Community Garden is alive with color and sound. Tomatoes climb their stakes, bees hum among the blossoms. It’s quiet today, but the squash, berries, pungent herbs, and blooming flowers don’t mind the calm. They are soaking up the sun. Community Garden Board member Lisa Galbraith walks through the garden, pointing out various plots, describing who they belong to, and exclaiming happily when she sees an especially spectacular specimen.
For more than 16 years, this patch of ground just east of Welches – known formally as the IWAKT Community Garden, informally as “the Dream Garden” – has fed not just families but a sense of belonging. “The garden is peace to me,” says member Dani Wolfe. “It is the essence of community.”
But now, the Dream Garden is facing one of its toughest challenges yet.
The garden sits on land once occupied by the Dorman Center, a county-owned building that for decades hosted meetings, senior programs, and other gatherings. When the county condemned the building in 2012 and tore it down in 2018, the garden survived while the rest of the site sat empty.
That same year, a community group hoped to use the property as part of a proposed Mt. Hood parks district. They secured a memorandum of understanding with Clackamas County for several Salmon River Road properties, with plans to deed them to the new district. The vision included local control and a community park. But when the measure failed at the ballot, the land remained vacant – except for the garden.
Following the passage of a bond last May, voters approved construction of a new Hoodland Fire District station on the site. Under an agreement between Clackamas County and the district, the IWAKT Garden will be preserved “in perpetuity for community garden use.” Still, the details sting: the station will take about 900 square feet – roughly a third of the garden’s plots – including the Celebration of Life Garden, established in 2009 to honor members of the Trillium Trails Garden Club.
There are also concerns about diminished sunlight. The fire station plans shifted north to accommodate additional bays for the Forest Service, which means more shade falling on the vegetables – a serious challenge for gardeners already growing at mountain elevation.
“This will eliminate 11 plots,” says Dona Rogers, chair of the garden’s board of trustees. “It’s not just space we’re losing – it’s members, history, and plans for the future.” Those plans included a children’s garden, outdoor learning opportunities with Welches Elementary and Middle Schools across the street, and room to welcome new members from the long waiting list. One special plot, ‘Grow a Row for a Senior’, is dedicated to providing fresh produce to community elders, and could have been expanded.
Despite the setback, the IWAKT garden remains a place of abundance. Board member Lisa Galbraith loves to point out the individuality of each plot. “In May it’s just mud – flat plots, blank slates, really,” she says. “But by midsummer, they each grow into something completely unique – kohlrabi, herbs, flowers, eggplant, cantaloupe, artichokes, tomatoes, potatoes. It’s fascinating to watch.”
She looks over the rows on this warm August day. “I’ve never seen a nicer community garden. I visit them wherever I travel, even in Portland, but none are as nice as ours.”
Community Garden treasurer Mary Taylor admits she came to the garden with little experience. Her tree-shaded property wouldn’t support flowers, so she turned to Dennis at Hood View Gardens on Highway 26, east of Sandy, for advice. She wanted to grow flowers – not for cutting, but simply to enjoy them in her plot. Dennis drew up a planting plan for her 4×10 bed. “All I had to do was follow his instructions and water, and it grew,” she laughs. “I just love flowers. For me, this garden is as much about beauty and community as it is about food.”
That sense of community – neighbors watering each other’s plots, sharing vegetables on the picnic table, donating chairs to make the space welcoming – keeps members invested year after year.
Every member has a story rooted here. Wolfe remembers her children chasing a rabbit in 2019: “It was a fat and happy bunny, and we spent an hour trying to catch it.”
For Molly Espenel, it was slugs. “Early one dawn, the slugs presented me with their exclusive fence dance before taking the plunge into the infinite garden compost,” she laughs, sharing a collage of slug photos that might double as training shots for the Brightwood Tavern’s annual slug races.
For many, the Celebration of Life Garden stands out. Established in memory of Trillium Trails Garden Club member Janet Porter, it later expanded to honor all members who had passed. Lush with perennials, it also served as a pollinator garden, essential for the vegetables nearby. Its removal will be deeply felt.
Today, IWAKT Community Garden has 31 members: families with children, longtime gardeners, seniors, and newcomers. Plot sizes run 4×10, 10×10, and 10×18 feet, with modest annual fees covering water and shared supplies. Demand is high, and the waiting list is long.
Discussions about the garden’s status with the new fire station are still ongoing. Rogers continues to attend every county and fire district meeting, advocating for the gardeners. “We hope concessions can be made to allow the garden to remain as it is,” she says.
The project could shrink the garden’s footprint, but it has not diminished its spirit. Members speak with pride about what they’ve grown – not just vegetables, but friendships, resilience, and joy.
As Wolfe puts it: “It is a dream to be a part of this garden and community.”
Even as asphalt edges closer and shadows fall differently, the Dream Garden remains what it has always been: a place where life – vegetable, pollinator, and human – continues to thrive.
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