Minnewaska People's Garden dedicated
By Carol Stender
cstender@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 05/19/2010 3:38 PM
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GLENWOOD, Minn. — It's not unusual for Pope County SWCD office manager Luan Johnsrud to help with tree plantings.
Recently, however, she added a garden to the list.
Johnsrud joined Pope County FSA director Grant Herfindahl, Craig Bower with the NRCS and Pope County USDA service center employees to plant the Minnewaska People's Garden on the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.
Helping with the project are farmer Earl Hauge, who tilled the garden plot, and property owners Robert and Barbara Valnes.
The garden is one of three People's Gardens in Minnesota and among 255 nationwide planted by USDA employees. Produce from the gardens will be given to people in need, Herfindahl said.
This is the third such planting the Pope County USDA employees have done in the past decade. With the cooperation of the Valnes', they planted several trees in front of the office building in 2004. In 2007, they put in a rain garden on the Pope County fairgrounds. This year, they planted a garden as part of U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack's initiative to promote health foods and reduce obesity.
Herfindahl also placed a rain barrell near the building to catch water from the service center's downspout. A spigot near the barrell's bottom can be hooked up to a hose for irrigation, he said.
"Here at the USDA Service Center in Glenwood, we are daily doing the work of helping to promote and protect the land that we live on and the water that we all depend on," Herfindahl said at the dedication ceremony. "This garden is also symbolic of the work that we do. We are always reminded that we work for the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the 'people's department,' so it is fitting that whatever produce that we get from this garden and the seeds that are planted will be given back to the community to hep those who need it most."