Libby Community Garden in fifth season
Garden manager Linda Alkire shows off an early red pepper in one of the community gardens plots on August 10. (Elka Wood/The Western News)
Mormon volunteers Elder King, left, and Elder Chien, right, sit with “Daisy,” Libby Community Garden’s newest scarecrow, whom they helped make on Aug. 10. (Elka Wood/The Western News)
It’s Libby Community Garden’s fifth year in operation, and manager Linda Alkire and garden members are constantly adding new features, art works and sculptures to the gardens, as well as enriching the soil to grow more produce.
On Aug. 10, Alkire oversaw the creation of a “half scarecrow” — a pair a jeans stuffed with plastic and wearing red boots, which will appear as through the top half of the body is stuck in the ground. Two volunteers from the local Mormon Church were carrying out Alkire’s vision after finishing up some mulching.
“I had the thought (of the scarecrow),” said Alkire. “So I said to these guys ‘Shall we do it?’ and they said yes, so I ran to the thrift store while they finished mulching and within an hour, we’d finished her.”
The scarecrow, called Daisy, can be found on the pathway right in the entrance to the community garden, and will soon sport a sign saying “Don’t be like Daisy, weed and water.”
Alkire gave a tour of the garden, starting with the section marked for the annual Harvest Festival, to be held Sept. 16. Pumpkins drip from a tunnel arbor and red and yellow cherry tomatoes hang from huge plants as Alkire walks through the garden.
“I’m very committed,” Alkire said. “We’ve achieved a lot in the last five years. We are a ‘work to eat’ garden, so ask us how to get involved.”