Community Gardens growing at North County Churches

Community Garden at Bethlehem Lutheran Church

John Natterstad writes about the Community Gardens at Bethlehem Lutheran Church/Marysville:

We have 15 acres donated by Bly Wilcox to Bethlehem Lutheran Church to eventually be a school. The address for this property is 9212 67th Ave NE, Marysville, WA 98270.

. . . Currently, we have over 130 10 foot by 10 foot gardens. The gardeners come from a variety of backgrounds. Many of our gardeners return each year. We ask a $30 donation for each year. Some of the food produced here goes to the Marysville Food Bank. Richard Hovet planted rhubarb along the east fence. This produces hundreds of pounds of rhubarb which is given to the Marysville Food Bank. Last year we dedicated 4 gardens for the Marysville Food Bank. They grew pumpkins and squashes. We took 21 pumpkins and a large number of squashes to the Marysville Food Bank. It is good to get to know the gardeners and they get to know each other. It has a white barn that we use for storage and for our farm equipment.

Elora Wykes is our caretaker at the gardens. She is available to answer questions for gardeners, keeps records for our gardens, and a number of other tasks.

We have had a number of events at the farm. Bethlehem Lutheran Church held outdoor-in-the-car services there last summer. Prior to COVID 19 we have had an annual church service and picnic at the farm. Cub Scouts use our barn for storage and have held a number of events at the farm. There have been graduation parties, youth events, Trunk or Treat, Christmas caroling, and many others.

We have had 10 Eagle Scout projects at the farm. Eagle Scouts have put in the numbered posts, built picnic tables and benches, spread gravel and bark, and built a planter. Eagle Scouts have built kiosks on the property east of 67th. One of the first female Eagle Scouts in the United States prepared a 10 station interpretive trail with a guide book. Our Cub Scouts have already used this.

Bly Wilcox also donated 10 acres east of 67th to the church. The address for this property is 9311 67th Ave NE, Marysville, WA 98270. We have supported a creek restoration project with the Snohomish County Conservation District, Adopt a Stream, and the US Department of Agriculture. We took 4.1 acres out of production around Allen Creek to be planted with trees to shade the water to that the salmon and trout in the stream will have cool water. Allen Creek flows to salt water southeast of Marysville. All the members of the 3rd Grade classes from Kellogg Marsh Elementary came to this site to help plant trees. There have been two PhD candidates who have done some of their research on this site. We are included in one of the reports from the candidate from the University of British Columbia. We have horses on this property. Rhonda Moen, a member of our congregation, manages this aspect of the property. She has a horse there and we have other horses boarded there. There is another PhD candidate who uses this property for research on equine therapy (hippotherapy).

North Lakewood Community Garden