Bricks and Gather-in-the-Garden at 10:00 a.m. Saturday

Hello Garden Gang,

Two quick notes:

1. We're meeting in the garden tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. The Neffs attended the spring gardening class on Thursday and will share information on dealing with insects for this potentially "buggy" spring season. We'll also talk about watering guidelines, soil amendments, and natural ways to keep our plants healthy. I'll share a short devotion and we'll pray for the gardens.

2. The children's ministry is going to build a butterfly garden and we're in need of bricks. If you, your neighbors or your friends have extra bricks, please bring them to the garden this week. If you need help transporting them, let me know and I'll bring my truck. If you have Facebook, you might post this need as your status and see if anyone you know has bricks they can donate. Builders in Park Glen often leave extra bricks in garages, so the treasure trove we need might be all around us!

See you tomorrow in the garden!

Cheers,
Britta

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