Bringing the garden back to life
Kathryn Cronin, director of the Idaho Mission Project, rolled up her sleeves Saturday to paint planter boxes and help beautify the long-neglected Community Garden of the Master. The community garden will be open this year and beds are still available for those interested in having a plot. (DEVIN WEEKS/Press)
Troop 3 Boy Scout Tucker McKern, 11, center, shows off a mouse he found while working in the Community Garden of the Master during a spring clean-up event Saturday. Also pictured: Troop 3 Boy Scout Ryan Harblur, 11, left, and Troop 3 Boy Scout Keton Kelly, 12, right. (DEVIN WEEKS/Press)
ANNA-LEE BOERNER/Special to The Press Troop 3 Boy Scout Ryan Harblur, 11, pulls a wheelbarrow Saturday morning while cleaning up the Community Garden of the Master in Coeur d’Alene to prepare it for a fresh start. Ryan and other Troop 3 Scouts, as well as other volunteers, pitched in to restore the garden, which has fallen into disrepair in the past few years and is now being revived for use. About 60 beds are still available to rent for the 2018 growing season.
COEUR d’ALENE — Cars and trucks whizzed by the patch of land just north of Kathleen Avenue on Ramsey Road on Saturday morning as a group of volunteers stayed focused on the task at hand.
They worked to beautify and restore the Community Garden of the Master, a growing space adjacent the Lutheran Church of the Master that was in much need of some love.
"It used to be incredible. Before I joined the church, I asked about all this,” said garden committee chairman Steve Honig. "They asked me last year if I would weed whack the weeds. You couldn’t even see the beds. And the more I looked at it, the more I said, ‘You know, we should try this again.’”
The 70 planter beds once again became visible as the volunteers pulled back tall grasses and revealed the remnants of a once-thriving garden that will soon flourish again.
Honig said about 60 of the beds are available for community members who would like to grow their own organic vegetables in a community garden this year. Any leftover veggies will go to local food banks; in a past year when the garden was active, it produced more than 2,200 pounds of food that went to those in need.
“I think it's important to give back, and that's what this whole church is about," Honig said. "This is what this property is meant to be. They were going to tear it all up and do something else with it, and I said, ‘No, give me one chance with it.’”
Among the volunteers was Kathryn Cronin, of Rathdrum, who runs the Idaho Mission Project, a volunteer organization. She painted planter boxes as part of her efforts to bring the community garden back to life.
"I think it's just beautiful because it's a lot about how the community, in all of its stages, can interact with each other," she said. "We've got our older people, our younger people, I'm somewhere in the middle. We're all here and interacting and unfortunately you don't get to see that everywhere. That's why I come, that's why I like to do these things."
Boy Scouts from Troop 3 pitched in to do their part. The Scouts buzzed with excitement when Scout Tucker McKern, 11, discovered a field mouse.
Scout William Gallatin, 11, said he felt blessed to help out the garden and its future growers.
"I feel blessed because it just helps people out and it makes them feel good that they don’t have to work as much as they do,” he said.
The Community Garden of the Master is located at 4800 N. Ramsey Road. Garden beds are $20 for one, $35 for two and $50 for three, with all funds collected going to maintenance of the garden area and shed.
Honig said he will be passing around fliers for townhouse and apartment residents in the area who are interested in growing their own vegetables but may not have the space to do so at their own homes. Anyone in the community is welcome to rent a planting bed.
Info: 208-765-1002 or 805-573-3001