Photo Courtesy of rebecca goossen
PLANTING HOPE. Rebecca Goossen plants a blueberry bush at L’Arche on Oct. 3.
A new partnership between L’Arche Tahoma Hope and St. Leo Food Connection will result in fresh fruit for clients of food banks and meal sites in the near future.
L’Arche is a small farm located south of Tacoma on Vickery Road East. Kevin Glackin-Coley, director of Food Connection, used to be on the board of L’Arche, which has a mission of providing opportunities to adults with developmental disabilities. He and Patrick Toohey, manager of the farm, had been talking about ways for the two organizations to collaborate when the idea of Sutherland Orchard was born.
“We wanted more fresh food for our clients and he said he had an available acre,” Glackin-Coley said. The boards of both organizations reached an agreement to have Food Connection acquire this acre and be responsible for its upkeep.
On Oct. 3 volunteers planted 30 apple trees, 90 blueberry bushes and two gooseberry bushes. About one-third of the acre was planted. Glackin-Coley said plum trees and raspberry bushes might be planted on the parcel in the future. “We thought we should start with a manageable amount.”
There are beehives on the parcel from which honey can be obtained.
The orchard is named in memory of Dick Sutherland, who worked on the farm for 20 years. “He was a vibrant member of the community,” said Rebecca Goossen, a Jesuit volunteer at Food Connection who participated in the planting. “Later this month a tree will be planted in his honor, and some of his ashes will be scattered on the site. That is a nice way to honor his memory.”
Goossen said the two organizations had been planning this project for about two years. “We are excited it has come to fruition. Our philosophy is that income should not limit access to fresh food.”
The apple trees are two to three years old and should bear fruit in about two years. They were donated by apple farmer Bradley Crick.
The blueberry bushes should produce fruit in a year. They were donated by Burnt Ridge Nursery in Onalaska. “They have been very supportive of the project,” Goossen said. Some Food Connection clients will likely come out next year to pick the berries, she noted.
Many volunteers arrived to lend a hand. “We had to do more prep work than we anticipated,” Goossen said, noting the soil had to be tilled.
In addition to generating fresh fruit for the needy, the project serves another useful purpose. “This is a way to preserve farmland,” Goossen said.
“We are trying to keep some farmland as farmland,” Glackin-Coley remarked.
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