Good Cheer Garden

09/12/2025

🌻 Garden Update! 🌻

Hey garden friends! We’ve got some news to share 🌿

We’re saying goodbye to this separate Good Cheer Garden page - but don’t worry - you'll still be hearing all about our gardens! From now on, all things garden-related (like fresh photos, garden news, and volunteer fun) will be shared over on our main Good Cheer page.

That’s also where you’ll find updates about our thrift stores, food bank, and all the other ways we’re working together to support our amazing community.

So if you haven’t already, come follow us over there - we’d love to keep growing with you! 🌼

https://www.facebook.com/GoodCheerWhidbey/

Thanks for being part of our garden family 🌱💫

Good Cheer is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that manages a food pantry, a farm and garden, and two thrift stores on Whidbey Island

05/07/2025

Farming is pretty tough but we’ve got the best crew! Please join us in welcoming Becky and Grace!!

We’ve asked them a few questions to help you get to know them!

🥒Which vegetable are you most like and why?🥒

B: I am most like a sweet potato because I am hearty and hardy!

G: I would say a sugar snap pea because you can most often find me with my sweet friends!

🐞Who’s your favorite critter on the farm?🐞

B: I enjoy the family of killdeer that hatched babies at the garden. They sing to us while we work and seem to want us to follow them all around the farm

G: I love all the little red worms that show up in our manure deliveries

🪏What’s one word you would use to describe you?🪏

B: Enthusiastic!

G: Silly!

🌱What do you like to do when you’re not working?🌱

B: I spend a lot of time on the phone with my sister and daughter! I love to spend time tromping through the woods or walking the lake with my bestie, black lab, Lucy. I love everything that has to do with the ocean and maritime adventure

G: I love looking for cool rocks on the beach, watching tv and movies with friends, working in my own garden at home, and snuggling with my sweet cat Tomato!

⭐️☘️🌷They’ll be here all summer so come say hi!

03/31/2025

Come join us!

🌊🌿 Did you know we have a farm program dedicated to growing fresh, healthy produce for the Good Cheer Food Bank?

Join our Farm Tour & Potluck on Wednesday, April 23rd, 4-6 PM, to see how we're cultivating sustainable practices and supporting our community. Meet Carlee and Katherine, our farm co-leads, and learn how we harvested over 17,680 pounds of produce in 2024! We will meet at the smaller growing site in front of the food bank and also tour the 1 acre growing site on the other side of the fire station.

📍 Good Cheer Food Bank, 2812 Grimm Rd, Langley.
➡️ RSVP by April 16th (limited to 20 spots!): [email protected]
☺️ Suggested Donation: $10

03/21/2025

We need volunteers at the Good Cheer Farm!

Our 1.25 acre farm is a program within the broader Good Cheer organization that is dedicated to growing fresh produce for the community. Last year we brought in over 17,000 pounds of produce for food bank shoppers! In order to grow food at this scale, we need help! We are looking for volunteers who want to help us grow food, build community, and learn from each other along the way.

Volunteering is a great way to do something tangible with your time that has a direct impact in helping your neighbors. Volunteers can expect to help with projects like bagging produce, preparing beds for planting, weeding, and trellising. Volunteer hours are on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays (details will be shared in an orientation) and after an orientation, volunteers are welcome to drop by for whatever time works for them within the listed hours.

If you’d like to help, please email [email protected] to set up an orientation.

03/20/2025

This vernal equinox we’re thinking about the balance between the light and the dark. Darkness is certainly making itself known all over our world right now. We’re watching the cycle continue to turn and are doing our best to notice both the darkness and the light. We’ve found it helpful to be with the rhythms of the seasons and invite you to visit the garden if you need a space to be outside. We’re hoping light finds you in your life and that the return of the sun helps you hold the dark when it finds you too. - Carlee and Katherine

02/14/2025

We are aware that ICE officers have been present in our area, including a detention that occurred on 2nd Street in Langley on January 29. While this message comes a few weeks after that event, please know that our work began immediately. At Good Cheer, our mission has always been to bring our community together and support each other - in challenging times and in joyful ones.

Our food pantry and thrift stores are safe and welcoming spaces for everyone. Period. Sharing food, sharing resources, sharing kindness - this is who we are and what we believe, in times of uncertainty and always.

We want you to know:

At our food pantry, we only ask for basic information: name, household size, and phone number.
- Sharing this information is completely voluntary - anyone can receive food regardless of what information they choose to share
- We never ask about or document immigration status
- We keep all personal information confidential
- We serve everyone who comes through our doors with warmth and respect
- Our commitment to our community's safety and dignity is unwavering
- Our staff and board are united in this commitment as we continue to develop and implement protocols to ensure our spaces remain safe and welcoming.

After all, "Good Cheer" isn't just our name - it's our promise to spread hope and support throughout our community.

If you have concerns or need support, please reach out to us. Our community is strongest when we stand together, and at Good Cheer, we stand with you.

We're here for you. All of you.

01/10/2025

Over the last few months we have parted ways with a treasured garden structure and intentionally built a new space.

We adored our starts house as a place to start seeds, cure squash, shell beans, listen to the rain, store onions, conduct interviews, pot plants, and enjoy a little light in the darkest times of the year. We reached a point where we just needed more space and decided the structure would be better suited to a new home. It has found a new life as a loved backyard greenhouse for a local community member. We spent our last week with the starts house eating lunch in it every day and noticing the little details we loved - like the moss on the door.

We spent much of December building our new propagation house using hoops from an old tunnel and a lot of YouTube videos. We are so excited to have a completed structure in time for next season! We greatly increased our square footage, giving us a place to start even more early season produce for the food bank. We are looking forward to settling into the space and all of the joys it will bring this season!

12/17/2024

11/21/2024

Welllll it’s certainly feeling like winter around here! What does that mean for us? We’re still bringing in lots of food each week, we’re watching sunsets at work, we’re getting excited as new mushrooms pop up all over the place, and least exciting or most exciting depending on who you ask- we’re doin lots of computer work!

10/25/2024

A new beeeeautiful structure dropped down yesterday in the garden. Dan from donated our new roof for the pizza oven Eli Adadow built us last summer! We can’t wait to have our first party today and to cherish this new art piece we received! The glass orb was blown by Island Art Glass.

10/24/2024

Foxtail Farm does so much to support us each year. This week they graciously donated $6000 to the food bank which will go very far in feeding our community! Thank you so much to everyone that came out to support them and in turn us last weekend. They’ve got beautiful produce at their farm stand which is at the corner of Bush Point Rd. &
Shore Meadow Rd. in Freeland.

We had the good fortune of dropping off a check to the fine folks at Good Cheer Food Bank this morning. Thanks to our loyal customers we were able to donate a whopping $6000 and it’s all because you guys showed up last weekend. We love doing things like this and are forever grateful for your support. 🙏🙏🙏
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