Idea: Community Garden

Cash Baptist Church, Cash, Ark. (cashbaptistchurch.org; CBC)

by Susy Anderson

Background:

In Cash, Ark., a small rural town of 300, poverty is a part of everyday life, with much of the community living on government assistance and food stamps. So, for CBC’s Pastor Terry Simmons, the call is simple. “In Genesis 2, the first thing God commands of man is to tend the garden,” he says. In obedience, this small church planted a community garden in its backyard, harvesting enough fruit and vegetables to deliver to every area household.

How To Do It:

• Because of varying climates, soils and conditions across the country, planting and harvesting times will be different. Find out what’s best for your area. Contact your local Agricultural Extension Office (csrees.usda.gov). Then, select an appropriate place on your church grounds.
  
  
• Ask the gardeners in your congregation to not only donate used equipment but also pull weeds, till the soil and plant seeds.
  
  
• Enlist volunteers to keep up the daily maintenance of weed pulling and watering, and then watch the garden grow. Some vegetables such as lettuce, green onions and radishes will come in within a few weeks, while others—corn, peas and beans—take a couple of months.
  
  
• When the harvest is ready, ask volunteers to gather the ripe fruits and vegetables. Shuck the corn, wash the fruit and separate the items into bags. Include connection cards with each.
   
• Have teams—or families—deliver the bags, encouraging them to communicate that this provision is a gift of God’s love.
  
  
• Throw a harvest celebration dinner for your community. Church members can bring the main dishes, and then serve the vegetables and fruit from the garden. This raises awareness of your church and its garden.

Cost:

Approximately $200 depending on tools that need to be purchased and size of garden

Results:

With an 8,000-square-foot garden, CBC has provided fresh fruit and vegetables for 80 to 90 households.

Takeaway:

“People were blown away that we wanted to simply give them food for free. We were never turned away,” says Simmons. “And we were blown away by just how easy it was to reach out in a tangible way. When we put the word out among our small congregation, we realized we had all the elements in place. All we had to do was till the soil and watch God provide.”

-EXCERPTED from Outreach magazine, "Idea Bank," January/February 2007

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