By Melissa Wagoner
Before John Baker moved to Silverton in 2016 life was rough.
“I was in pretty bad shape…” Baker said. “I had severe arthritis, both of my hips needed to be replaced, I’d spent five years in a wheelchair, and I was pushing 400 pounds…I was crippled and unemployed.”
That’s when Baker and his wife, Amanda, decided to make a substantial change, moving from their home state of Oklahoma to Oregon, where Amanda has family. Almost immediately things began to improve.
“The doctors elsewhere said, get used to your life, but the doctors here said, we’ll fix this,” Baker recalled. “And it gave me the hope I needed to lose 175 pounds.”
And to make an important new friend along the way – fellow Aquacise attendee Judy Gabriel.
“She’s a dear friend of mine that I met at the pool… when I was trying to lose weight and get the surgery,” Baker said.
But it wasn’t just Aquacise that brought the two together, they also share another passion – plants.
“Being confined to a wheelchair, I started messing with house plants to keep my sanity,” Baker recalled. “And then, when I got my surgery and was able to walk again, I found my love for gardening.”
In need of assistance, Gabriel invited Baker to help her in her own home garden, but then she had an even better idea – a long-time member of the Silverton Grange, Gabriel knew the organization’s community garden was in need of some TLC.
“I mentioned it had always been a dream of mine to have a big garden and so when Judy presented this, I saw an opportunity,” Baker said. “I said, I can absolutely clean this up and give back.”
Because, for the past seven years, Baker has kept one goal in mind – to repay SACA for the help the organization provided when he needed it most.
“When I moved here, I was crippled and unemployed and I had to rely on SACA,” Baker recalled. “For a year I needed their help. So, it’s very much been on my heart to give back to them.”
Now, with a large community garden at his disposal, Baker is doing just that, one vegetable at a time.
“The tomatoes, corn, beets and squash are doing the best,” he said. “But we’ve got raspberries, blueberries, seven kinds of melons and 21 varieties of tomatoes, too.”
In fact, Baker has so many plants, and they are all growing so well, that it’s hard to believe he’s only been gardening for four years.
“I’ve done a lot of research,” Baker said, pointing out bean plants, whose low yield he attributes to high nitrogen levels and a lack of pollinators that has him meticulously pollinating flowers using a paint brush for over an hour each day.
But even these trials haven’t lessened his enthusiasm.
“Being confined to a wheelchair and then released from that prison, it makes you appreciate the simple things of life,” Baker pointed out. ‘
“We all take the simple things for granted until we lose them. It really gives you a different perspective on life… If someone told me five years ago I’d be doing this, I wouldn’t have believed it. I wouldn’t have thought it was possible.”
