Interview by Lily Shaver.

On February 16, 2024, I talked with Mary Ann Bugni, an active volunteer in the Estacada community who wears many hats. She’s involved in many great things and has served the Estacada community for a long time. 

1. How long have you lived in the Estacada area?

Thirty-three years, since 1991. We are in rural Estacada, so not in the downtown core, but out in the George area, just up above Eagle Fern Park. 

2. What is your favorite thing about the Estacada community?

I like that it’s really small. I know many people here and they know me. Which I think is one of the great benefits of living in a small community. It’s close knit and everyone is lovely here. I enjoy being interconnected with the people I know in many different ways–just as friends, or I attend yoga with them, or I volunteer at the food bank with them, or they also volunteer alongside me at the ASPIRE program at the high school. So many of my friends do all of those things.

3. How long have you been helping with the ASPIRE program at Estacada High School?

Since 2009. I was hired by the high school to run the program, so I had just finished my four years on the school board. And one who is volunteering on the school board cannot also work for the school district. So when I completed my term on the school board, I was offered a job at the high school. I worked there for seven years, and as my kids were going through high school and graduating, it was sort of a natural time to step back and retire again. That was my second retirement. So I retired when I had my children back in 1995, and then I went back to work in 2009 for the high school, and I retired in 2016. And ever since then I have been volunteering back at the ASPIRE program–because I feel really strongly that it’s an excellent program. And it is based on committed volunteers in the community.

4. How are you involved in the garden at the Estacada Middle School?

When my children were in grade school, that would have been the early 2000s, some other community members were beginning the Estacada Farmers Market. I met some people that were starting the farmers market who also happened to have children in grade school at the time. And we just got to chatting about the fact that we wished our childrens’ school hot lunch program was a little more healthy. Given all of the land surrounding our school buildings, couldn’t there be a way for food to be grown there that would be harvested and delivered to the kitchen, so that the salad bar could be more fresh–locally grown, organically grown vegetables and fruits? So those parents and I proposed that to the Estacada School District food service program and they said “Sure, great! If you’ve got the energy and the time, we would be happy to have you build some gardens on our school grounds!” So that group then decided to call themselves “S.E.E.D.” And that stands for “Stewarding an Edible School District.” And so we formed and talked to a lot of our other friends who also had grade school children and beyond, and we got together on a weekend and we built our first garden at River Mill Elementary School. So it was a raised garden, and soon after we wrote a grant and received some money to be able to build a second garden at Eagle Creek Elementary.

A school garden was built in two of the elementary schools, and then those same parents really needed to continue to support with volunteerism, to plant and help guide students in either a during school or after school program, to engage them with their science lessons out in the garden. And then those vegetables were harvested in the summertime or in the fall. And so some of that food went into the Summer Food Program that the school district hosts, and then in the fall as the students were returning, the food was harvested and delivered to the kitchens so that the kitchen staff could use it by chopping a pizza or putting it on the salad bar or incorporating the produce that was grown in some way in the school lunch program. 

That has continued on, some of those gardens came and moved on, and eventually another garden was built at the Estacada Middle School, then the Estacada Junior High School, by the environmental club, at Estacada Junior High School. So that was spearheaded by a staff member who ran a club there on that campus, and she was also a member of SEED. So that’s how that came together, so it was guided by and supported by the SEED non-profit. That was a school based garden built by students on Earth Day. So they really just conquered a space of grass out front, and in one day, built that pinwheel garden that is in front of the gymnasium end of the building. And ultimately then, SEED wrote another grant to begin another garden, a secondary garden, which is on the front of the auditorium end of the building. And the food that was grown there was intended to benefit the Estacada area food bank. So it was a partnership grant written on behalf of the middle school, or the junior high at the time, and the Estacada Area Food Bank. And so that now is the primary beneficiary of the food that is grown at the Estacada Middle School by the students there, especially during the summer, when school is not in session. 

This [school] year about 1,600 pounds of produce was grown by students in that garden and harvested and delivered to the Estacada Area Food Bank. Another couple hundred pounds was delivered to the cafeteria in the fall of 2023.

–mary ann bugni

5. Tell me about the flowers in the garden…

We do inter-plant pollinator flowers to bring the bees, and the butterflies and the pollinators to our vegetable garden. Not all vegetables have a really impressive flower, but if there are bees already there because of the zinnias, and the sunflowers, and other pollinator flowers, if those are there to attract them, then they stick around and go cross pollinate and do their good work for us. 

One of the side benefits of planting flowers is that they are really stunning from the curb view. So as people are driving by or walking by on the sidewalk, it invites people at least to look as they drive by, and if they’re walking by on the sidewalk…we hope and we wish and we see–moms and baby strollers and small children being attracted to come up and walk along the garden paths and really to engage with the garden that way too. 

SEED has since developed a stronger partnership with the Estacada Area Food Bank. About four years ago the Estacada Area Food Bank agreed to be the non-profit partner of SEED. And so SEED is now officially a program of the Estacada Area Food Bank. The acronym SEED was the creation of one of our volunteer partners, Stephen Shibley, who was the landscape architect in Estacada.

6. What is something that you’d want newcomers to know about Estacada?

I would want them to come visit downtown, I’d want them to know about our murals, and want them to come step in and visit our gallery, to enjoy some of the amazing art that some of the Estacada and Eagle Creek residents produced. Those are some highlights I’d want them to enjoy. I’d want them to be welcome to visit the library which is fairly recent and a beautiful building in town. And the parks in our community are wonderful, and our schools have a lot to offer.

 I would want to encourage new residents to become familiar with our local downtown core and our library and our schools. I’d want to engage them to realize that they’ve really joined not just a place to live and go off to Portland or the metropolitan area to work but also to come and enjoy their community and the wonderful small town rich opportunities that it has to offer.

–mary ann bugni

7. What is the history behind the new stream next to the Estacada Public Library?

The pond that used to be there was actually the Mill pond for the Mill that was located right between Eagle Creek Road Highway 224 because there was a big mill there, Estacada Lumber Mill. So they actually dammed up Wade Creek and created a pond there. So what happened with creating Wade Creek Park is they’ve returned Wade Creek to be a creek and no longer a manufactured man made pond.

8. Do you have a favorite place in Estacada?

I would have to say the Estacada Middle School garden. I spend a lot of time in that garden along with other adult volunteers, engaging with students in the garden and throughout the summer, and as students have gone to their summer activities, I spend a lot of time there with the other adult volunteers. We do weeding and harvesting and we deliver food to the food bank. So I love the Middle School garden, I spend a lot of time there. I love the library, and I’m in and out a lot, but I also like to go there and spend time there and read if I can. I don’t do that as often as I’d like to. I’m going to do that today as a matter of fact.

9. What committees are you a part of and where do you volunteer? 

Currently, I’m sitting on the board of directors for the Estacada Area Food Bank. I’ve been involved for probably ten to fifteen years helping to deliver produce that the school gardens have grown. Over time, I felt closer and closer to that organization, and volunteered my services on their board of directors about four years ago. Also I’m a long time member, probably 20 years on the board of directors for Estacada Together. That’s the performing arts presenting organization in Estacada. I also volunteer at the food bank. After I joined the board I decided that in addition to growing food in the garden that I’d like to volunteer at the food bank. I volunteer on Tuesdays and Thursdays right now. I also volunteer at the high school for the ASPIRE program. You’ll find me there at least once a week, visiting one-on-one with the students that I’ve been been matched with. I’m assisting them from junior to senior year, planning their post high school futures. Certainly, it’s not always about college, but it’s planning their post high school futures. I really enjoy doing that. As I mentioned, I started doing that in 2009. And prior to that I had volunteered for that program in 2007 and 2008. Then I ran the program for seven years.

I enjoy still being a part of guiding students, whether it be the Middle School in their school garden, or with the high schoolers as they’re planning their post high school futures. I’m also an advisor for the Snow Riders at the high school, So this is our third week going up to the mountain. When I was working at the high school, running the ASPIRE program, I chaperoned for the Snow Riders club. It’s been fun to continue to continue to do it as a community volunteer.

I enjoy supporting a student activity that high schoolers very much enjoy. 

Thank you for reading this Q&A!

Find more information about Estacada High School’s ASPIRE program here: ASPIRE Program (google.com)

For more information about the Estacada Area Food Bank check out their website: Estacada Area Food Bank – Mission Statement: Provide healthy food and other essentials for our community. (estacadafoodbank.org)

For more information about SEED click here: SEED – Estacada Area Food Bank (estacadafoodbank.org)