FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF/KTUU) – Last week, the Noel Wien Library in Fairbanks saw a new garden plot constructed with the purpose of creating learning and volunteer opportunities for the community.
The garden features a variety of food crops, including kale, broccoli, tomatoes and potatoes, which volunteers and families planted on Thursday, July 10 after the beds themselves were set up and filled with soil earlier in the week.
With crops now actively growing, Melissa Sikes, Natural Resource Education Specialist with the Fairbanks Soil and Water Conservation District (FSWCD), said the area can be visited by patrons at the library and can be seen from the children’s room.
Different classes are expected to take advantage of the garden, including youth and adult programming at the library and the Alternative Fairbanks Farm and Educational Cooperative Training (AFFECT) program, run out of the conservation district, which teaches students how to grow items for market.
“We’re integrating with some of the library kid’s programs as well as adult programs because we want everybody to be able to learn a little bit about gardening and veggie growing,” Sikes said.
These lessons would include activities like harvesting and picking potatoes.
However, the garden is also open to members of the community who are looking to learn more about the process, according to Sikes.
“Anybody who wants to volunteer and help out at a garden and learn some gardening skills, if they don’t have the capacity to do it where they live, they can come help with these gardens,” she said.
Food from the garden, Sikes explained, will go toward anti-hunger organizations in Fairbanks like Bread Line, Inc. and the Fairbanks Community Food Bank.
The beds will be in use throughout the rest of the summer, until weather conditions make outdoor gardening impractical in Fairbanks (around September) and Sikes said they’ll stay in place during the winter, ready for use next spring.
“Our hope is that this is going to do really well, for the next 10 to 15 years,” she added.
Next year, Sikes hopes to make the space more accessible from the library for wheelchairs and work with library staff to expand the learning schedule.
The project was funded by a grant from the Rasmussen Foundation totaling just over $13,000.
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