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Agriculture Club members grow crops year round

Share with food banks

Posted 11/16/19

“This is one of the best kept secrets of Sun City West.”

That is how Phil Dautrive, Recreation Centers of Sun City West charter club specialist, described the facility where members of …

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Agriculture Club members grow crops year round

Share with food banks

Posted
This is one of the best kept secrets of Sun City West.
– Phil Dautrive, Recreation Centers of Sun City West charter club specialist

“This is one of the best kept secrets of Sun City West.”

That is how Phil Dautrive, Recreation Centers of Sun City West charter club specialist, described the facility where members of the Agriculture Club of Sun City West maintain their gardens. Mr. Dautrive conducts tours for new and current residents after going through the facility people say, “It’s pretty awesome,” accorfding to Mr. Dauterive.

Otto Werner, Ag Club garden manager, said there are 325 members of the club managing 260 plots at their 6.7-acre facility, 17800 N. 137th Drive. Each cage is 16 by 38 feet, and club members can own up to two sites.

Sue Anderson, Ag Club president, said currently club members “own” their plots and sell them to new members, with a wide variety of prices. Mr. Werner said some club members share plots.

“The club is exploring  ways for members to have a lease program in the future,” Ms. Anderson said.

She added the club is also raising some gardens above ground level to make them accessible dor handicapped members.

Food at the facility isn’t grown just for the members.

“Twice a month we collect for the lcoal food bank,” Ms. Anderson said. “There is always something in season.”

Mr. Werner said club members also grow a lot of onions and sweet potatoes to share in December.  

“They require minimum maintenance and by the end of the growing season you get 50-60 pounds of sweet potatoes,” he said.

Mr. Dauterive said the club is also beginning a project with the Nadaburg Elementary School, located about 15 miles northwest of Sun City West.

The school district is located amidst an impoverished area, and the staff are building a greenhouse and forming a group to help students develop gardening skills.

“We are still working out the details,” Mr. Dauterive said, “but we’ll be partnering with them to share our members’ skills and talents.”

One product that grows very well in the Sun City West gardens is luffah, the material used in Loofah shower and bath sponges. Members harvest the product and add it to a soap which they sell as a fundraiser. Ms. Anderson said they sold about 1,000 small bars at two Sun City West events in the past year, raising about $3,500.

Liesa Crowley, winter resident from Soldotna, Alaska, said she plants the same things in Sun City West in the fall that she plants in Alaska in the spring.

“It’s the cold crops like the cabbage and the broccoli and the greens,” she said.

This is her second season in the Sun City West Ag Club.

“I still struggle with growing a tomato, though,” she added.

The club began in 1987 and became an official RCSCW chartered club in 1989. Membership is $10 per year, plus the cost of the plot.

Ms. Anderson said the club will be changing from a maximum of two plots per person to just one in order to be able to have more members.

Mr. Werner said club members don’t maintain the gardens to save money on food, but for the love of gardening. He estimates the cost of piping and stucco wire to cover a plot at about $700.

Visit agriculture.suncitywest.com.

Reporter Roger Ball can be contacted at rball@newszap.com or 623-876-2523,