Zion Lutheran Church is located on 10 acres of what used to be pasture on the south side of the town of Cloquet.

This 125-year-old congregation purchased the land in the 1950’s and built in 1960. The church occupies a small fraction of the property. Over the years the grounds were planted with some trees and shrubs. The wetter areas filled in naturally with cattails, alder sedge and purple fringed orchid. The un- mowed areas populated with tansy, Canada golden rod, ox eye daisy, Queen Ann’s lace and thistle. The rest of the pasture that was mowed grew grass, dandelions, hawkweed and pussy toes.

Everyone agreed, it was a lot to mow and In the 1990’s some thought was given to remedying this problem.

In 1994, an orchard was planted on a rainy Memorial Day with 30 apples trees purchased with memorial gift money. About 10 years later, a wildflower garden was prepared by covering a patch of ground 200 feet by 15 ft. just north of the orchard with black plastic for 2 years to kill golden rod and tansy. After that the area was seeded by a 5th grade Sunday school class. The children lined up with buckets of seed and marched back and forth on the prepared area scattering seed. Their little feet tamped the seeds into the soil.

In 2018, Ruth Jorgenson proposed turning the east end of the property into a community garden. The weedy lawn was Elled and covered with black plasEc for two seasons. Then the area was fenced, and garden plots laid out. Terry Anderson devised a rainwater collection system to take advantage of the Church’s giant copper roof.

In 2022, Zion took advantage of the Carlton Soil and Water district “Lawns to Legumes program" and the “Rain Garden initiative”. With the districts help, Zion put in a rain garden, a pollinator meadow and pollinator pocket.

As Zion prepared for Pollinator Sunday 2026, we realized that many people in the community and our own congregation were not aware of our gardens and orchard. The gardens and orchard are on the south side of the church and are somewhat hidden by the church building. So, for pollinator Sunday, we decided to have an “open house” for the gardens. We sent out invitations via email to all churches in our county. We advertised the event on our lawn “billboard”. Notices went out on the church web site and in the Sunday bulletins.

Our Pollinator Sunday service utilized some of the resources send out by the synod. Our congregation was invited to the gardens after worship for a blessing of memorial trees and self-guided tours. Informational maps were available. Garden “docents” were stationed at each garden for questions. About 15 people attended the tree blessing and toured the grounds. Thirteen were from the congregation and two were from the community. I was hoping for a few more people, but it was a beautiful day and as Jesus said (and Pastor Kristin Foster), “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there I am with them also.”

We may try a garden tour / open house again, but I think it would be better to do it later in summer when flowers are in bloom. Not everyone gets excited by green plants coming up in the spring. I would try to get the Sunday “coffee hosts’ on board to serve the treats outside and I would borrow a golf cart to allow those with mobility issues to participate.

Vicki Anderson