Call it a small farm or a big garden. Either way, the plot of south Spokane Valley land on which Arne Woodard grows produce is making a huge difference for families throughout the Inland Northwest.

Woodard, broker of Woodard Properties & Management, and his wife, Charmagne, have 3/4 of an acre of land south and west of their home dedicated to a vegetable garden, and the bulk of the food grown there is donated to the Spokane Valley Food Bank.

Last year, the Woodard garden yielded 2,685 pounds of food to help struggling families. In its best year, the garden produced 3,400 pounds of produce for the food bank. His goal this year is to reach 4,000 pounds of donated food, a tall order in a poor growing season plagued by a cool, wet spring.

But the need, he said, is growing. Inland Northwest food banks are reporting double-digit increases in food requests, with more people using the services to feed their families.

“This isn’t about me. It’s about the people who are in need, and this is the way to help them,” Woodard said.

The crops include 50 different varieties of vegetables – beets, onions, cabbages, and nine different kinds of squash, among others. In addition, he has a few apple and pear trees that bear fruit for the food bank.

The hundreds of pounds of produce isn’t all Woodard grows for others, and the food bank isn’t the only place he takes his veggies.

Woodard grows Hubbard squash specifically for the Union Gospel Mission. Those squash typically grow to be 50 to 100 pounds each, and the Mission uses them for a squash soup recipe that’s popular with its patrons.

In addition, Woodard grows tree starts and plant starts that he donates to the food bank.

“You have to feed more than their bodies. You have to feed their souls,” he said. “When you don’t have financial resources, the last thing you’re going to do is go out and buy a marigold.”

The garden’s plants are tented with a metal mesh as a deer deterrent, but Woodard doesn’t use pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Rather, he uses compost as fertilizer in the 10-year-old garden, which was undeveloped when the Woodards bought the property and had been horse pasture years ago. He tills between rows to turn the weeds under the soil and picks some by hand, as well as simply living with a certain amount of weeds.

“You can’t do it healthier, best I can tell,” he said.

A few of Woodard’s friends have been growing food to donate to food banks, as have other members of the Inland Northwest Garden Club. The growers keep track of the poundage they donate so that it can be added to the total for the national Plant a Row For The Hungry effort, through which 3 million to 4 million pounds of fresh produce is donated each year.

Woodard, a long-time real estate professional, currently serves as president of the Independent Brokers Association and is on the board of directors for the Spokane Association of Realtors. About 30 years ago, however, he was unemployed and received free dairy products through a government program.

“That got us over a really rough spell,” he said. “I was grateful. This is a way I can repay and help my fellow man.”