Harvest season is already beginning, so it might seem a little late in the year to be writing about gardening, but, having gardened myself, I know that caring for a garden goes on year-round. Even in winter you’re planning the next year, ordering seeds and starting plants under grow-lights.
Thanks to the Episcopal Church’s Good News Garden program, gardening can also be a mission. Inspired by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s “Way of Love” movement, Good News Garden is “a community of people with the ability to plant gardens of all sizes and kinds together – from small pots of herbs to hundreds of acres of corn – in order to share the love of Christ through word and action, food and labor.” Joining the program gives you monthly newsletters that will include: wisdom from leaders in Episcopal Agrarian, Evangelism, Creation Care, and Justice ministries; practical links on growing and sharing the bounty; Way of Love in the Garden Bible Study; Prayers for Growers; and videos, podcasts, and other helpful resource links.
We at St. Stephen’s, know, of course, that if our gardens are producing more than we can use ourselves, we can donate the surplus to Neighborhood Services, Incorporated (NSI), our church supported local food bank that also provides many other social services (1950 N. 4th St. Suite J, Columbus).
Long-time gardeners know all the tricks of putting up the garden’s bounty, but if you are a new gardener (or just got overly enthusiastic at the farmer’s market) and want to know how to freeze all that extra corn, beans and broccoli, this article from Treehugger may help.
And finally, if you don’t have a garden, but would like to support our Diocese’s sustainable farm, get on the mailing list for Procter Farm so that you can sign up for the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program next year. Community Supported Agriculture is a popular way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer. Here are the basics: Procter Farm will offer 30 shares to the public of a variety of high quality, fresh vegetables and/or pork & chicken. Interested consumers purchase a share at the beginning of the growing season and in return receive a box of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season. Once harvesting starts, they get a box of fresh, organic produce every week, to be picked up at a Columbus area farmer’s market.
