Canned food
drives are so yesterday. While still an important tool for feeding the hungry,
many churches are also looking at their land and their members to get more
people involved and find more ways to put food on the tables of those less
fortunate. The organic church garden
may well be the new food bank of the twenty-first century.
In 2011, St.
Mark’s Episcopal Church in North Bellmore, New York transformed an unused 50X100 piece of property into an organic farm.
The Garden at St. Mark’s has since harvested and donated thousands of
pounds of fresh organic produce to the Long Island Council of Churches food
pantry in Freeport, New York.
Recently,
St. Mark’s kicked off its third growing season, and many members, friends and
volunteers rolled up their sleeves to tend to the garden. You can read more
about the effort at my post for Edible Long Island.
Through the
connection of soil and spirit, the Garden at St. Mark’s aims to harvest
heavenly vegetables and nurture a community of healthy bodies, big hearts, open
arms and achy muscles.
©2013 T.W.
Barritt All Rights Reserved
This is a very good initiative, I think. And mist of all, to vest children too in this kind of new way of living and being is the best thing we can do. They are the future.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing.
Projects like this warm my heart. Thanks so much for sharing the story.
ReplyDeleteA much healthier way to feed the hungry.
ReplyDeleteHow amazing would it be if people used more of their own properties as a possible place for their own or community food source. Great initiative on giving.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic idea and a wonderful way to promote good health and eat well at the same time. I hope more churches will do this.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Kat. A much healthier way to feed the hungry.
Sam
BRAVO! Good for them to make good use of land. The church I went to as a child had acres of lawn that is good for nothing but polluting the air with constant mowing. Brilliant to use it for good and to grow decent food to give those less fortunate and not the endless cans of mandarin oranges and gray green beans people don't want. Not much choice in winter but in summer best to go this way. Thanks for the great story.
ReplyDeleteWhat a worthwhile project that I know all the recipients will enjoy tremendously.
ReplyDeleteI love this and how all are working! Nice post!
ReplyDeleteWonderful, what St. Marks is doing. Nice to get families together to do the gardening, too. A learning experience along with the all important lesson: helping those in need.
ReplyDeleteSuch a great & inspiring post, my friend! x
ReplyDeleteGreat pics too!