The Sept. 10 Good Morning Gardening Party at Łomianki Park was a multi-age, multi-organization event, as HeightsNEXT, the Fridley-Columbia Heights Rotary and Columbia Heights’ Sister Cities clubs, and Heights neighbors came together for a few hours of planting, consuming Heights Bakery donuts and touring the Blooming Sunshine Food Forest.
Columbia Heights Mayor Amáda Márquez Simula described the Food Forest as a garden that belongs to everyone in the community, where, unlike the usual community garden in which individuals tend their own plots, the community tends and harvests the garden together.
Michele Schluender gave a tour of the gardens, which include an assortment of herbs, tomatoes, corn, onions and other vegetables, and plenty of wildflowers to attract the pollinators. The fruit trees are encircled in screening to protect them from the deer that frequent the park, and the benches and the Little Free Library – a recent addition – were made by Heights residents.
Schluender has been coordinating the planting of a garden in the berm that runs most of the length of the park. On Saturday she directed the planting of a newly prepared bed in the berm. The hope is to eventually replace all of the grass with pollinator-attracting wildflowers, relieving park maintenance crews of having to mow the steep slope.
Márquez Simula invited all to join the weekly community gardening sessions and meals provided by local businesses at the park Tuesdays at 5:30-7:30 p.m.
That afternoon, the annual Waite Park Fall Festival featured horror movie-inspired puppets, vegan mushroom jerky and a variety of locally crafted goods. Food trucks from Ben and Jerry’s and Chimborazo provided sweet and savory options, while the Waite Park Community Council served additional no-cost foods.
Attendees included Ward 1 Council Member Elliot Payne and Hennepin County Sheriff candidate Dawanna Witt. Local music performed by Skunk Hollow rocked the lawn, and Station 15 firefighters demonstrated how to use lifesaving equipment.
Below: From the front cover, as summer begins its slow fade into autumn, community festivals are winding down and church festivals are gearing up. At Northeast Park Neighborhood’s NEPNAFest on Aug. 29, giant bubbles were the big attraction. (Photo by Marla Khan-Schwartz) The end of an attempt at playing Jenga at the Waite Park Fall Festival. (Photo by Marla Khan-Schwartz) Stacy Nekora and Ella Anderson-Nekora planted seedlings at Łomianki Park during the Good Morning Garden Party. (Photo by Karen Kraco)
