George Rude sometimes eats six or seven small yellow tomatoes for dinner. They’re picked fresh from the vegetable plot he and John Hamers tend at the 29th Street Community Garden.

The community garden behind San Juan Lanes was the brainchild of Skagit Beat the Heat members. Betty Carteret, who helped head the project, aimed not only to grow vegetables but to bring the community together to learn about sustainability.

The garden was put together with help from the city, several volunteers and donated materials from local businesses.

Rude, 68, and Hamers, 85, got involved with the project when they began a plot for the Silver Wood Senior Complex.

“I got it in my name but it’s for Silver Wood,” Rude said. “I think it’s a real healthy idea.”

“It has some therapeutic aspect to get out in God’s creation,” Hamers said.

Many people like Rude and Hamers received some donated seeds and plants and bought others from the Skagit Valley Food Co-op in Mount Vernon to get started. The city helped with tilling the soil and setting up the plumbing for stand-up faucets. A composting bin was started by the Skagit County Master Composter in one of the garden’s corners and a shed was built on site to hold donated tools and provide a place for gardeners to keep their own on-site.

The creators, supporters and just plain farmers of the garden will celebrate the first harvest season along with Skagit Eat Local Week on Sunday, Sept. 20. People are encouraged to join in the potluck picnic from 1 to 4 p.m.

Though the two retirees are about the only ones working the Silver Wood plot, many others are reaping the benefits. Hamers regularly hands out zucchinis at the complex and Rude invites the residents to come to the plot and help themselves.

“I can’t eat all that rhubarb, so I have ladies up there making rhubarb pies today,” Rude said.

So far, the two have harvested cilantro, tomatoes, zucchini and beets. They plan to eventually pickle cucumbers and make sauce from horseradish roots.

The no pesticides or herbicides rule hasn’t been a problem, Hamers said. There haven’t been any slugs — and no vandalism either.

One woman whom Rude had invited to pick tomatoes was even chased out by someone at the apartments next to the garden, because they thought she was filching, he said.

The garden is about a block and a half from Silver Wood so the two men walk to tend it. Both say it helps them get out of the apartment and exercise.

“It keeps me going,” said Rude.

Both men make it down to the garden several times a week if not every day to check on it, water, pull weeds or just munch.

Both said they feel healthier from the fresh air and physical activity and have better attitudes and feel better about life.

“There’s more to it than the food,” Hamers said. “It’s the exercise, the fellowship; it’s all part of it.”

“It’s also a reminder that food doesn’t come from the supermarket; it comes from farming,” he said.

Hamers grew up on a farm and has had backyard gardens throughout his life.

“I like to get out and work in the soil,” said Rude, who has only gardened in pots up until this season, though he did work on a farm in his youth.

At Silver Wood, the two men had space for some container gardening but no room for actual beds.

“This has been a true blessing,” Rude said. And “a real plus to the community.”

Since they’ve been working in the community garden, many of their neighbors have expressed a desire to get involved, so Rude expects a lot more interest in plots next year.

The two men said they’d like to see more children at the garden. The activity would be good for them, the community and teach them respect, Hamers said.

Rude also hopes the city can manage to add a hot house to the garden to allow people to start planting in the early spring, he said. And the year after next, he hopes to see a second community garden in the city started.

Rude pointed out that their plot, which was tilled early in the season, has produced a little more than others that were built up with soil amendments, cardboard, mulch and soil.

But that was part of what the whole project has been about — lots of experimenting, Rude said.

“You look around and see a variety,” Hamers said.

Rude said he may even try a little vertical gardening next year. With plants on tiers, he wouldn’t have to bend over to reach them.

He also plans to start a winter garden soon on an hay bale that should be about 10 degrees warmer than the soil around it, he said.

“I’ll try to drag it out as long as I can,” he said. “We’ll just experiment and find out.”

Eat local at potluck Sept. 20

The 29th Street Community Garden celebrates Skagit Eat Local Week, Sept. 14 to 20, with a community potluck picnic 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20.

The event, to encourage people to choose and celebrate local food, is sponsored by Slow Food Skagit and the Skagit Valley Food Co-op.

People are encouraged to visit the Anacortes Farmers Market on Saturday to stock up on locally produced food to make into a locally focused dish for the picnic.

During the week, area restaurants and businesses throughout the county will be ramping up the local specials on their menus to take advantage of the bountiful harvest.

In Anacortes, participating restaurants are Adrift, Bellissima Trattoria, Bob’s Chowder Bar, Brown Lantern Ale House, Calico Cupboard Cafe & Bakery, Cameron’s Living Room Dining, Deception Cafe & Grill, Gere-A-Deli, The Majestic Inn, Mary Ann’s Kitchen, The Rockfish Grill, The Star Bar, Sweet D’s Shrimp Shack and Thai Season.

Participating markets and food producers are Anacortes Brewery, Black Rock Seafood, The Market at Anacortes and the Anacortes Farmers Market.

To learn more about the local farms and restaurants participating in Eat Local Week, and to get the details on the community potluck picnic, visit http://www.slowfoodskagit.org.