Dear Editor: Sixty people attended the Sitka Community Gardens Association "Garden Picnic" on Sunday, Sept. 6.
The end-of-season festival was held at the Jarvis Street Community Garden, where gardeners and community members shared sunshine, stories, homemade desserts and flower arranging and mural painting activities. The celebration marked the end of the Jarvis Street Community Garden's first summer growing season.
Joel Hanson, who has taken the lead in developing the physical site on half an acre of land leased from the City and Borough of Sitka received a round of applause and praise from gardeners. "We certainly owe thanks to the Assembly members and city staff who helped make the land lease possible. But the real heroes of this project, I think, are the many volunteers who put countless hours of their time and energy into the real work of land clearing, fence building and staking out the garden plots right on the ground so gardeners could get to work on building their raised beds as soon as the snow melted," Hanson said.
Leigh Rector, a member of the Sitka Community Gardens Association Board, took a leading role in the organization of the picnic as their first task. “I get my love for gardening from my Maternal Grandmother, Marilyn Louis (Neill) Volker of Kansas. She had a love of growing things, especially tomatoes. I'm excited to see the community of Sitka show up for becoming more sustainable, and to be surrounded by people who also love to grow things’’, said Rector.
Fellow organizer and board member Barbara Bingham has been assisting Joel Hanson as the original muskeg transforms to garden space.
‘‘Together, Transition Sitka and the Sitka Local Foods Network envision this as the first in a network of public growing spaces,” Bingham said. “Enthusiastic public response bodes well for our future!’’
Sitka Local Foods Network
and Transition Sitka
