We're Up and Running...How Much to Give?

Many thanks all of you who came out for our work days during Spring Break. We had over 30 helpers in the garden, and together we dug, planned, planted and prayed Alliance Community Garden into existence! So far we have 20 beds for individuals/families with only two remaining beds still open. We have a pumpkin patch, a blackberry bush area, a communal area for eggplant and squash, and a gorgeous new spiral herb garden.

We were also able to plant our new trees: two figs, two persimmons, two plums and one peach tree. We're working on our irrigation so we can easily water our gardens (right now we're dragging hoses, but it's all good...) and we're still raising funds for a shed to house our tools. The missional giving Sunday in April goes to the community garden, so the opportunity for AUMC to further support the garden's mission is just around the corner.

Speaking of giving, many of you have asked what percentage of your crops you should donate to the food bank. My answer is: as the Lord prompts you. We want all of our gardens to produce a healthy bounty not only for our gardeners, but for those around us who are in need. Keep in mind that the donations we've received from TAFB and TCPH were given so we can be a part of the solution in educating folks on better nutrition and giving them access to healthy vegetables they wouldn't otherwise be able to afford. We'll have a station soon where you can drop your crops for donating--it will be so exciting to see how much we can give!

Additional warm-season plants are on the way including squash, okra, beans, melons, cucumbers, lettuce and snap peas. So, for those of you who haven't completed your beds, you might want to save a little room for these crops. I will let you know when they come in.

We're expecting a heavy dose of rain this evening, so I'm thankful for the refresher for our plants. I'm still a novice to the world of gardening, but I'm learning new lessons every day...

Today's good word is from Oswald Chambers in his devotional, My Utmost For His Highest. Chambers writes, "A life of faith is not a life of one glorious mountaintop experience after another, like soaring on eagles' wings, but a life of day-in and day-out consistency; a life of walking without fainting." Together, may we walk this life of faith, in and out of the garden, with consistency and grace.

Cheers,
Britta

Work Day, Saturday March 3

Hello Gardeners,

I have glorious news: four beautiful dump trucks brought us compost/soil and mulch yesterday and this morning Lowe's brought our cinder blocks and work tools. Hooray!

All this means we can have a work day this Saturday, March 3, beginning at 10:00 a.m.

The work will go like this: the front-end loader will help us level dirt for the beds, we will build the beds with the cinder blocks, and then we fill the beds with our fresh soil using the front-end loader, wheelbarrows and shovels. It will be a big job, but with plenty of volunteers, the work should go smoothly. We will have a volunteer on hand to document service hours, so send any Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts or Honor Society students our way and we'll put them to work.

The soil amendments will arrive within a week, the seedling plants should arrive in a couple of weeks, and I have seeds and planting guides for anyone who wants to sow directly.

Here's what to bring:
1. Newspapers and cardboard to line the beds.
2. Work gloves.
3. Cap/hat, sunscreen, water bottle, snacks etc. for your personal convenience.
4. A happy heart.
5. HELPERS!

We'll have three wheelbarrows and some shovels, but if you want to bring your own supplies, feel free. Most of all, please be in prayer that this garden will be done in service and glory to God. Remember, one plants and one waters, but God provides the increase.

Cheers to all, and see you tomorrow in the garden!

Blessings,
Britta

Hooray for Troop 205!

Hello Garden Gang!

Many thanks to Jack Webb and Boy Scout Troop 205 for hauling cinder blocks for us this weekend during their overnight campout in the garden. The troop neatened our new work area for us so we can prep for our Big Garden Build, hopefully for this Saturday, March 3rd. I've spoken with Katey Rudd, and it looks like our supplies should arrive this week. As soon as I get a green light (get it, green?) I'll holler. Actually, I'll email, but you get the idea.



As a reminder, I've got seeds and a seed planting guide from Marshall Grain for those of you who'd like to help grow seedlings. I've been in touch with Denise Cyr who will head up a seed-growing campaign with AUMC Preschool. Thanks, Denise.

Please keep praying for the garden. I read this passage last night as part of my Lent devotional, and I thought I'd share it with you:

Romans 6:5-8 "For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him."

That word "united" means to grow in union, or to plant in union. The word describes how two plants that have been planted together and are growing together, closely entwined or even united. (Nelson Study Bible.)

Have you ever seen two plants growing so closely together that they seem as one? What a beautiful image of our union with Christ, that we would be planted so closely to the source that we would actually grow entwined, closer and closer, to our Lord. This is my prayer for each of us, with this new mission field of the garden and in our personal journeys with Jesus.

Be blessed!
Britta