Preserving, for public benefit, land across Alaska's Kenai Peninsula with natural, recreational, or cultural values by working with willing landowners.
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KHLT's Garden Area
KHLT’s philanthropic garden has a long history that dates back to the previous owner Clarence Vernon Platt, otherwise known as “Poopdeck." Among many other things, Poopdeck was well known for sharing his garden harvest with the local community. When the land trust purchased the property from Poopdeck’s family estate in 2002, the garden area evolved into an important resource for local youth to learn about growing organic food. Located on the 3.47-acre Poopdeck Platt Park property in the heart of Homer, this garden supported the Potato Project for years, where schoolchildren planted and harvested potatoes for Homer’s food pantry. This important youth program was focused on connecting them to the concept of locally grown food while also giving back to the community.
As Mother Nature likes to have her way, the hydrology of the garden area changed significantly and became saturated. As a long-term community project, KHLT has been working towards transforming its property into a community park which includes creating a new garden area for the Potato Project. First steps, including a draft conceptual design of the project, were completed with the help of National Park Service's Rivers, Trails, Conservation Assistance Program. As part of the interim rebuilding process, youth from Homer Wilderness Leaders (HoWL) have been working with land trust staff to replace part of the fence surrounding the saturated area of the garden and also have re-built a new one, circling the new, smaller area. Continued steps will be taken this year by HoWL and other community volunteers to assist the land trust in their goal to rebuild the important Potato Project. Steps being done this year will hopefully include garden area landscape work, planting and tending to several now raised beds, and amending soil for next year’s new potato patch. The Potato Project and Poopdeck Platt Community Park Project are supported with grant funds from the City of Homer.
Improvements to the garden for community projects will continue as funding and staffing permit. If you are interested in becoming a garden volunteer, please contact the Stewardship Director.
