Join us this Monday, March 19 for the next Crop Swap 90813!! Even if you don't have anything to swap, come join us for lively garden conversations! Bring your own bag. Garden entrance and parking on Atlantic Ave. Questions? Contact Tony at Long Beach Fresh. 

We are excited that the garden has achieved National Wildlife Habitat Certification! This means our garden is a place where birds, butterflies, bee’s, and other animals have food, water, shelter, and a place to raise their young.  Look for our certification sign soon!

Garden Hours:  Currently the garden is open every Tuesday and the first Saturday of the month from 9:00-noon.  Starting in April the hours will change.  New hours will be the last Saturday of every month 8:00-11:00am, every Monday 6:00-8:00pm, and every Tuesday 8:00-11:00am.
 
Crop Swap 90813:  You are invited to join us at the next swap on Monday, March 19, 6:00-7:00pm at St. Luke’s Teaching Garden. Even if you don’t have anything to swap, come meet your neighbors and engage in garden conversations!  Go to Long Beach Fresh for more info.
 
We invite you to stroll through the garden anytime on Sunday or during garden hours, there are places to sit and relax so you can enjoy a slice of solitude. Or, you can choose to engage in the gardening process by helping us maintain this precious gift from God. 

Questions, comments, suggestions, contact Vicki Storberg.

The first Crop Swap was a success! We had a great turn out for Downtown Long Beach's first Crop Swap, held at St. Luke's Teaching Garden! Over 20 people came with their homegrown chard, lettuce, lemon verbena and other herbs, avocado's, citrus of all kinds, and on and on! Join us on the third Monday of every month, continuing on January 15, 2018! For more information contact Tony Damico.

In an effort to be fully inclusive, the Garden Committee felt it was important to have a garden area that was wheelchair accessible. Thanks to Building Healthy Communities Long Beach this will become a reality. St. Luke’s Teaching Garden has been awarded a $600.00 mini grant that will provide funds to build a wheelchair accessible raised bed and a brick pathway around the raised bed!

We are very blessed and grateful to Building Healthy Communities Long Beach for recognizing this important project and the positive impact it will have in our community. Please continue to visit our website for more information about St. Luke’s Teaching Garden and how you can get involved.

What a wonderful workday we had in the garden this past Saturday, July 29! Our goal was to fill the garden with the donated soil from Royal Gold and we did just that! Check out the photos below.

We had 18 volunteers from all walks of life helping out. For the youngest ones, we setup a rock painting area. Their rocks will eventually decorate the borders of the garden beds. The day was filled with community; I couldn't have planned it that way even if I tried! Some special moments for me included talking with a young man about the voices he hears and how gardening quiets them, to sitting with a homeless woman and her youngest son as we colorfully painted rocks, while her 8 year old happily helped in the garden, to a young lady, who saw one of our flyers in a store window, showed up to help because she wanted to! This is already a special place and I am blessed to be a part of it.

A HUGE thanks to Kress Market, on Pine Ave. in downtown Long Beach, for providing us with lunch! Be sure to check them out. And again, thank you to Royal Gold Potting Soil, from Humboldt County, for donating all that marvelously rich soil that we moved to the garden! What a sweet bed we made. 

Love and peace to you all, see you in the garden!
Vicki Storberg
Garden Ambassador

The St. Luke's Teaching Garden will gather for a work party to move the donation of soil into the garden! We want to see all of you there on Saturday, July 29 from, 9am – Noon. Lunch will be provided but we do need you to RSVP to prepare enough food. Please send an email to Vicki Storberg or to the church office and let us know how many of you to expect. All are welcome and encouraged to join us! Don't forget your hats, water, and sunscreen!

On June 23 we received an enormous donation of the most amazing soil all the way from Humbolt County! A major 'thank you' goes to ROYAL GOLD, GREENCOAST HYDROPONICS, and OURFOODS, INC. for this heavenly gift! We also received a picnic table from Lincoln Springs Farms, thank you farmer Jesse! Some folks have generously donated their time and continue to do so, along with wheelbarrows, organic seeds, and gardening expertise. We plan to create a wheelchair accessible raised bed in the near future and to create the pathway around it by re-purposing the bricks from the area north of the Community Room. We will host a fundraiser soon that will be for ALL ages, so keep alert for the Ladybug Rock Painting event!
 
If you can give the garden a couple hours a week or a month, please contact Vicki Storberg.

​Our June 17 work party was a big success! For now, the garden will lay fallow for a couple of weeks. We will then host a planting party to keep the work going, so stayed tuned! Check out what we've been up to below.