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.

Friday, February 26, 2016

Bleak Midwinter in the Garden

February, the midst of a miserable winter. There has been little snow and less sun. Lots of clouds and rainy weather. We have also suffered the injury of a vandalized building. The garden looks like it may never produce. But looks can be very deceiving.

February has been a banner month for our fledgling garden. On the 17th of February we received word from the ELCA we have been awarded a grant for 2016 in the amount of $3000. Along with the $3500 that had been pledged by the congregation we are well on our way to seeing growth (yes, pun intended) in our Memorial Garden in 2016.

On February 24 I received word from the Alaska Synod that I will be able to sell bowls at Synod Assembly made from the trees that were taken down on the plot. I will be very busy finishing bowls during the next couple of months so I will have wares to sell. My goal is to sell $500 worth of bowls. They will be priced from $10 to maybe as high as $50 depending on size. It’s difficult to say right now as I don’t have any of the finished product yet. The bowls will also be available at the Lutheran Church of Hope if the church council will permit me to display and sell them there as well.

I will need some assistance at assembly so if anyone has some free time April 22-24 please let me know. Assembly will be at St. Mark Lutheran Church on Lake Otis Blvd. You can call the church office or send an email to leave a message for me. The church phone number and email  can be found at HopeAK.org on the web. There is also a link to this blog there as well. I will get some pictures posted of the bowl turning process as soon as I get started on them.

Be sure to check out the wish list that is on right side this page. The wish list does change so be sure to check back often. There are many things that can be ordered from Amazon, Inc. If you have Amazon Prime there is often no shipping charged even to Alaska.

If you have any pictures available of people we can put on our picture gallery of those memorialized in the garden please send them to me or the church office so I can incorporate them into the blog’s picture gallery. Digital pictures are the best but I can scan photos as well.

Thanks for reading and there will be another post soon so keep coming back.

Peace be with you all.