Community Garden Musings

by Trish Blomquist

Like vines in the garden, these are rambling thoughts of expressing the joys of gardening!

God, the very first gardener, planted his garden with love. Today we plant and tend the Community Garden with love.

God planted his garden with joy. We plant our community garden with joy in knowing that we are serving our friends and neighbors with food for their tables. We ask God to open our eyes to see more clearly the relationship of Gardener – Father’s Love for everyone.

Gardening is an important part of many people’s lives every year. Each year we come to appreciate the garden more, even though our joints and muscles might say otherwise. The word that keeps coming to me is solace. The feel of the soil in your hands and the beauty and resilience of the plants that populate the garden soothe the soul. Watching the blossoms and then the fruit develop and knowing that it will feed someone in need is a gift from God. Viewing a garden can fill you with peace and happiness – for me it brings joy in looking at the green vegetation and having the opportunity to “play “ in the dirt.

Christ the King’s Community Garden has been in existence for approximately eight years. The garden is not only a source of food for the community (our neighbors) but also as an opportunity for relationship building and connecting with our neighbors and fellow church participants. The original stated purpose for the garden was building relationships, connecting with neighbors, providing food for the Local Food Shelf. These goals have been met with joy and awe, especially when we harvest the produce and deliver it to the Local Food Shelf. Last year we donated over 500 lbs. and we are well on the way to that amount again this year. It is a wonderful to have neighbors walk by the garden as we are working and begin a conversation – outreach in the simplest of forms!

This year we have had several people from the neighborhood stop and ask if they could have a plot. We have, unfortunately, had to share that we don’t have any plots available (we explain that the produce we are growing goes to the Food Shelf) and that then leads to the conversation, how can we expand the garden so that our neighbors could have a plot!

In the Bible, there are many references to gardens or seeds:
Genesis 1-2: Story of Creation
Genesis 2: Adam and Eve in the garden
Psalm 8:16 He is like a well-watered plant in the sunshine, spreading its shoots over the garden.
Matthew 13 Parable of the sower    
Matthew 13:31 Sewing of the seed: The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field.
Matthew 13:37 The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world.
Matthew 14 Feeding the 5,000 – This is similar to our contributing to the Local Food Shelf.

Seeds have been planted – use us in unexpected ways
This is your faith planted in you by God
Creating new seeds that will support generations to come…

Probably one of my favorite songs when I am looking for solace is “I Come to the Garden Alone”.

The Community Garden “buddies” enjoy time together and the work we do in the name of our Lord.

I’ll leave you with a few thoughts for the day!
Gardening is a work of heart!
Into the garden I go to lose my heart and find my soul
I love gardening from my head tomatoes
Lettuce Turnip The Beet
Totally Radish!

If you are interested in volunteering with Community Garden group, contact Trish at 651-283-3173 and we will get you involved!