The garden is a Memorial Garden, a garden of benevolence, a garden of love. It is a gift to our community from the God of Love, Jesus the Christ. The first “seeds” for our garden have come from members of the congregation and a designation from the congregation’s memorial funds. These seeds have brought us to the beginning of a journey that will last for many years. Guided by the Holy Spirit we will plow forth until row upon row of our work is accomplished and our community is better nourished. The Lord invites you all to be part of His work on earth strengthening and feeding His children. The garden is made possible by generous donations from the community, and grants from the ELCA Domestic Hunger Grants, the Alaska Food Policy Council through the Municipality of Anchorage, the Alaska Women's Giving Circle, The Alaska Master Gardeners of Anchorage, the generous support by the congregation of Lutheran Church of Hope, and support from the Alaska Synod of the ELCA.

Food from the garden in 2019 was sent to Lutheran Social Services Food Pantry, the Tudor Road Gospel Rescue Mission, and to Bean's Cafe.

Saturday, March 19, 2016

First day of Spring

Today is the first day of spring. Of course that is spring according to the calendar. The lower 48 has spring. But as I write this it is snowing. We are supposed to get 2 to 4 inches today and another 2 or so tonight. Sure doesn’t seem like spring or look like spring. But things are still happening in the with the garden if not in the garden.
Harvested Birch

Seed starting equipment has been bought as well as seeds. I hope to have planted seeds for the congregation and others who wish to raise in their homes until we are able to put them in the garden in May. In April we will take delivery on a storage shed. We will construct compost bins. Hopefully I will be able to take soil samples so I can send them in for analysis. I will put together a calendar and let everyone know what tasks will be undertaken and when so you can come by to help out if you wish. We will also have a couple of seed tape making parties so planting carrots, parsnips, beets, and other things will go more quickly and there will be less thinning as the
plants emerge. Be watching for the schedule.

Rough Bowls
We did have a small veggie harvest last fall. We also had a large harvest during the summer. We harvested a log of birch trees. All of that wood was not burned or just left to rot. In the time since that harvest I have turned at least some of the wood into wooden bowls. It started with rough turning the wood into bowl shapes. They were left to dry for the deep winter months. This month I started turning those rough bowls into the finished product. Most of the bowls are in the 4 to 7 inch range, heavy on the 4 inch end. Some, though no many, will be as large as 10 inches. The trees were small so the bowls are as well.
Bowls Nearly Ready

The bowls will probably be on sale on Easter at the Lutheran Church of Hope at 1847 W. Northern Lights Blvd. They will also be available at Alaska Synod Assembly the last weekend of April (St. Mark Lutheran Church on Lake Otis Pkwy). The proceeds from the bowls will go to support the garden and I will receive none of the proceeds. Pricing of the bowls has not been determined yet but the small ones (4 inch) will be in the $7 range and the larger (7 inch) ones $12 to $15 with reduced pricing for the purchase of 4 of the same size. There may be a few that are more expensive because of special designs or larger size.

Spring really is coming. Be patient and it will happen.

See you in the garden.

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