Katharina’s Garden and Compost Program
Serving our community through growing and distributing healthy food to the hungry.
Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works
(James 2:14-18)
Katharina’s Garden and Compost Program is the most recent addition to the three outreach food programs based at Faith Lutheran Church. It was started two years ago through seed money and engagement from members of Faith and the community groups RISE, a local nonprofit engaged in food insecurity, as well as Homer J’s Senior Dog Sanctuary.
(Note: Food insecurity is the lack of access at times to food that is needed for a healthy life for all family members. Food insecure families may go hungry at the end of the month or adults may give up food so their kids can eat.)
The heart of Katharina’s Garden is head gardener and volunteer, Katie Colling. Katie is well connected with organizations and people who are interested in food insecurity issues. She has a group of committed volunteers who, along with volunteers from Faith, work on designated Saturday mornings to turn and sift compost, weed plants, and generally do what is needed to turn raw food scraps into compost, and raise seedlings into edible produce.
I talked with Katie Colling while she was picking squash bugs off plants.
Katie described the challenging process of creating a new garden by starting with building the soil. Healthy soil is critical since it can better withstand the challenges of bugs and disease as well as better tolerate the rocky soil and short growing season that are hallmarks of high desert gardening. So, building the Compost Program was a key early goal. Members from Faith have participated in the compost program by bringing buckets of egg shells, coffee grounds and veggie trimmings to add to the compost heap. Up to now, Katie has started plants as seeds, but plans to speed up the time to harvest next summer by planting seedlings instead. Creating a “denser” garden that produces increasing amounts of food over time as the soil becomes rich and friable is key to our goal of addressing the problem of hunger among our neighbors.
This summer the produce was distributed through the Monday Food Pantry, located at Faith Church and led by Eileen Way. Even now, in this early stage of its development, the garden is having a small but positive impact.
Want to Get Involved?
Donations
It takes a village to grow a garden and we are grateful for all those at Faith who have supported this effort so far. Faith Lutheran raises ongoing funds for the garden through bingo nights and donations collected at fellowship following the service. Your donations for the garden will support the expansion of the garden to yield more food for our community.
Volunteering
In addition, you can volunteer in the garden or with the children of the volunteers. Katie needs childcare for volunteers who want to help on the Saturday workdays, but have no one to watch their children. Anyone who would be willing to provide childcare at the church while moms and dads are working on the garden would be most welcome!
Compost
Continue to bring those buckets of raw material for making compost. Although planting and harvesting have ceased until spring, compost will continue to be processed all winter.
If you’re interested in bringing your food scraps to participate in the compost program or have any other questions about the garden, feel free to email Katy Colling at kmcolling@gmail.com.
Watch for updates about Katharina’s Garden in the Faith Newsletter, as well as on Facebook and Instagram.
Katharina’s Garden Facebook
Katharina’s Garden Instagram
Katie also posts information about the garden work schedule on Facebook.