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, December 9, 2017

The Summer of 2017

Ready to Plant
I have been neglectful of my duties as a blogger. Please accept my apologies. I will certainly try to do better from this time forward.

First off, I would like to thank my numerous volunteers. Without you there would be no garden and the fresh produce we provide would not exist. Thank you for your help and I look forward to working with you and others next year.

The garden was a success this past summer. The harvest was about 2950 pounds. This is not nearly as much as I had hoped. Since we nearly doubled the size I was expecting to at least double the production but alas that did not happen. We did provide food to more organizations this year. We gave produce to Lutheran Social Services of Alaska, the Anchorage Gospel Rescue Mission on Tudor Road, the Downtown Soup Kitchen Hope Center, and to Bean's Cafe. All were very appreciative of our contributions. Once again, thank you for your help.

The weather for the summer of 2017 was not nearly as nice as the previous year. A cool, wet season was not a conducive to growth as the warm weather of 2016. Hopefully next year will be better but could very well be a normal summer like the past one.

Orchard Planting
We did do another expansion this year. We planted an orchard with 5 apple trees. I harvested apples from the trees in front of the parsonage as well so they were added into the mix. The new trees will be a few years before there is any production but I am looking forward to the harvest. Many thank to all of the volunteers that helped put in the orchard and fencing it as well. Two additional apple trees were planted inside the garden. These were grafted in April and they will take longer to produce but again will be a welcome addition to the harvest.

I am beginning the planning for next year as we speak. I hope to once again increase the harvest. I will not however, make predictions on the amount of increase. Will depend on the weather and other activities. I look forward to writing more in the weeks to come. Enjoy the season and stay warm.


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