Kenai plants community food forest

  • By Kelly Sullivan
  • Sunday, July 10, 2016 8:58pm
  • News

The starts for Kenai’s new community orchard, and soon-to-be food forest are in the ground.

On June 25, staff from the City of Kenai’s Parks and Recreation Department, O’Brien Garden and Trees and the hands of a few volunteers planted fruit trees and shrubs in the Kenai Community Gardens that, in only two years time, will bear apples, gooseberries, raspberries and currants. When the time comes, anyone can take their pick.

“We are taking an open source and free-sharing approach,” said Randy Dodge, Kenai Parks and Recreation operator. “This allows everyone access to the 1-acre of space.”

Dodge came up with the idea this winter after receiving an email from Heidi Chay, district manager for the Kenai Soil and Water Conservation District, who tipped him off to the Community Orchard and Food Forest Grants offered by the Alaska Division of Forestry. It was a new concept, but seemed like a good fit for the city. He said he saw it as a chance to show more residents how they can be closer to their food supply, and ways to get involved in local production, he said.

Chay also set Dodge up with the O’Briens, who supplied all root balls and saplings for the project.

Michelle LaVigueur, O’Brien orchard manager, said she suggested a list of varieties that do well in Alaska’s cold climate. For the trees, she went with “some of the old reliables” like Garlands, or Norlands, which are heavy producers. At full maturity each tree in the community orchard has the potential to yield 100 pounds of apples annually, she said.

“The more we can feed ourselves and each other, the better off we will be,” LaVigueur said.

While the trees won’t reach the height of their production for roughly another decade, they will likely live to be 100 years, LaVigueur said.

LaVigueur offered spacing, pruning, planting and maintenance tips at the ground breaking June 25.

While the apple trees do have the capacity to produce during the first two years, the city will be cutting back all buds to prevent fruit from growing, she said.

“It makes the tree put the majority of its energy into growing otherwise it would put all its energy into ripening fruit, but you want to make your tree be big and healthy before there is any fruit,” LaVigueur said.

Once it has been growing for three years, bearing fruit does not seem to stunt development, she said.

Dodge and LaVigueur will host a second planting in late July at the Kenai Community Gardens to finish planting the remaining apple trees and shrubs. The date is yet to be announced.

Reach Kelly Sullivan at kelly.sullivan@peninsulaclarion.com.

More in News

An 86 pound Kenai River king salmon is measured in Soldotna, Alaska, on June 29, 1995. (M. Scott Moon/Peninsula Clarion File)
Kenai River king salmon fishing closed entirely for 3rd year

Kenai River king salmon were designated a stock of management concern in 2023.

The Kenai Peninsula College Main Entrance on Aug. 18, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
University of Alaska Board of Regents to meet in Soldotna

The last time the board met on the Kenai Peninsula was April 2012.

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education member Penny Vadla and student representative Emerson Kapp speak to the joint Alaska House and Senate education committees in Juneau, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (Screenshot courtesy Gavel Alaska/KTOO)
KPBSD among dozens of districts to deliver in-person testimony to Alaska Legislature

Districts spotlighted programs already lost over years of stagnant funding that hasn’t met inflationary pressure.

Rep. Bill Elam, R-Nikiski, speaks during a town hall meeting hosted by his office at the Nikiski Community Recreation Center in Nikiski, Alaska, on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Education dominates Elam’s 1st town hall as state rep

Education funding dominated much of the conversation.

Kenai Middle School Principal Vaughn Dosko points out elements of a redesign plan for the front of the school on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Work soon to begin on Kenai Middle security upgrades

The security upgrades are among several key KPBSD maintenance projects included in a bond approved by borough voters in October 2022.

The Kenai Fire Department headquarters are photographed on Feb. 13, 2018, in Kenai, Alaska. (Peninsula Clarion file)
Kenai adds funds, authorizes contract for study of emergency services facility

The building shared by Kenai’s police and fire departments hasn’t kept up with the needs of both departments, chief says.

Kenai Parks and Recreation Director Tyler Best shows off a new inclusive seesaw at Kenai Municipal Park in Kenai, Alaska, on Thursday, June 27, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai awards contract to develop Parks and Rec master plan

The document is expected to guide the next 20 years of outdoors and recreation development in the city.

Balancing Act’s homepage for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Fiscal Year 2026 Budget. (Screenshot)
KPBSD launches ‘Balancing Act’ software, calls for public to balance $17 million deficit

The district and other education advocates have said that the base student allocation has failed to keep up with inflation.

Natural gas processing equipment is seen at Furie Operating Alaska’s central processing facility in Nikiski, Alaska, on Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Harvest Alaska announces proposed redevelopment of Kenai LNG terminal

The project could deliver additional natural gas supplies to the Southcentral market as early as 2026, developers said.

Most Read