Hidden Treasures in the Garden…

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”  (Matt 13: 44)

Greetings garden friends.  Over the past couple of weeks, we have enjoyed the unearthing of many wheel barrows full of sweet potatoes.  Lots of them!  With lots more to dig!  The mass of endless vines are cut back, and then the excitement begins as many children dig in with hand shovels and smiles of anticipation to find their buried treasures. 

Our sweet find of golden spuds brings to mind the parable of the kingdom of heaven hidden in a field.  Our time spent in digging up our fall favorites are like our coming home to God…and our finding the golden hidden treasure.  You might have to dig before you find it.  You might have to look before you see it.  You might encounter rocks through the process.  It could get muddy!  But once you find it, being where God is, in His kingdom, is the greatest harvest, the real golden treasure, the most precious gift freely given to us by God. 

Among God’s many blessings in the garden this past month, we are joyful to share in new and continued plantings to include the welcoming of baby Charlotte Marie Capps, the sweet new baby girl of proud parents Jonathan and Lauren Capps and sisters Bridgett and Riley.  We are also thankful to God and the Duke Divinity Field Ed office!) for returning Andrew Hammond to our garden and church as an intern for the academic school year!   We are doubly blessed with the appointment of Almuth Zipf as she partners with Andrew in ministry both in the garden and our church.

We look forward to celebrating our fall abundance of blessings and bounty at our 6^th Annual Fall Harvest Dinner next month.  Mark your calendars for Saturday, November 8 from 6-8 to enjoy an evening filled with good food and fellowship!  More details will be sent in a flier soon.   Our new garden calendars will  be available soon as well!   Pre-order yours today for $20 and help us plant many seeds next year.

It is never too late to join the garden.  Still plenty to work and take care of..and harvest!   Lots of good greens (collards, kale, spinach, Swiss chard, lettuce), herbs, roots (sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, turnips),  and still a few summer fav’s (eggplant, tomatoes, climbing okra, and beans).  Our garden work nights through this month are Tues/Thurs 4:30-dark and Sat 9-noon.

Thank you all for your continued support, love, and prayers for our garden as we continue to harvest hidden treasures and share the love of our Lord and Savior to many!  Come grow with us…come dig with us!  It WILL be good!

Blessings,

Donna Poe

Garden Coordinator

What we are “growing” in the Garden of Concord…

At a recent Concord UMC "Grapevine" event, 'Taste and See', I was given the opportunity to speak a little bit about  how God is using food to bring people together in our community…and in particular, in the Garden of Concord.  It was with thankfulness and praise that I was able to share with those present the history of the garden’s original planting to include God’s continued leading through the love and support as shared by our church family, along with the many faithful stewards He has sent to work and take care of His creation.  It was with joy and affirmation to talk about what we are really “growing” over there in that field in the East on the land of Concord UMC.

The Garden of Concord, as an extension ministry of our church is a means to following Jesus’s commandment to love our neighbors and to share His good news (and food) in the process.   It has never been about a way to get people in to church on Sundays.  It is about witnessing and working with multi-generations, races, and faiths by growing in our garden while offering and experiencing Christ’s love in abundance.  It is about working in unity as a community.  It is about caring and learning how to grow healthy food and something about ourselves and others in the process.  It is about the planting and watering of seeds while watching God make them grow into a plentiful harvest of food and faith.  It is a means to garden creation like God does.

Outside the walls of a church building, for many, the time spent growing good food and friendships during weekly work hours just may be their only meaningful exposure to God.  For others, it is a way to work out their salvation in sharing the love of God along with stewardship of His creation to include His planet and His people; to be the agents of God’s continuing care in the world.

I am affirmed nightly of God’s presence in the garden when I hear comments from members and visitors such as:

-“I am learning so much! I feel God's amazing love while at the garden!!   

-“What would be ‘work’ if done alone is transformed by the community of others!” 

-“I am so thankful to be able to give back by working in the garden and be helping others.”

-“I love the garden. It came into my life at the right time. I am right where I am supposed to be.” 

-From a 7 year old, “This place is way better than how I thought it was going to be!” 

-And from a mom, “Praise God. It is a miracle!  I have tried getting my son to eat vegetables for years and now he can’t wait till garden nights to dig up and eat some more!”

-And just this past week a visitor shared, “I feel so very special in this place.  I just can’t describe it.  It makes me happy inside.” 

The garden sustains primarily on individual garden memberships while offering free memberships (in thanks to several “garden angels”) to “family members” at S.A.F.E.  Through our bi-weekly donations to SAFE (almost 2,000 lbs since their opening), we share a sampling of our garden harvests (washed, individually bagged with tips and recipes) and encourage our neighbors in need to “Taste and see that the Lord is good” by growing with us even if it is just for an afternoon.  We hope to plant and empower a desire in their hearts to want to learn more about how to eat and grow healthy food while also helping others in need in our community and share God’s love with many!   We have been blessed with several folks from SAFE working in the garden along with a few that have joined as members with their presence at most every garden workday.

So where do we grow from here?  God continually feeds my desire to want to share His love with many by expanding our production in order to provide more to the ever increasing needs of the hungry in our community both spiritually and physically.  I remain in prayer for His providing our needs according to His will and purpose for the Garden of Concord, to include his plantings and people, and have complete faith in the knowing that it WILL be good!

-Donna Poe

Garden Coordinator

It is a summer seasoned with many blessings in the Garden of Concord!

Greetings garden friends.  

Praise God for the abundant harvests of food, membership, and fellowship in our garden this year!  Our summer season is in high gear and filled with God’s Goodness!  Despite the early season of chilly wet weather turning into hot and dry days, our plantings have been amazing…thanks be to God!  We are presently harvesting (lots of!) potatoes, cucumbers, basil, beans, blueberries, and tomatoes!  All of the garlic and onions have been harvested with lots more curing to be shared later.  We have just begun harvesting some eggplant and yellow squash with zucchini soon to be.  The sweet potato plantings are beginning to vine and the butternut squash (under row covers) will surely be fine!

We are very thankful for our interns this summer, Chris Grimmet and Andrew Hammond!!  They have been so helpful in participating in nearly all of our garden workdays/tasks, leadership, and extra projects on the “to do” list to include the building of our new bamboo bean tunnel!  We only wish they could stay planted with us for many more seasons!

We are especially thankful to be able to share God’s many blessings of food to our local food pantry, S.A.F.E.  as we join together in our common mission of empowering and feeding the hungry in our community by taking care of God's creation (which includes His people) all while sharing and witnessing the love of Jesus Christ.  It is my passion and prayer that in providing fresh produce from the garden, "family members" will be empowered to eat healthier as well as wanting to learn how to grow their own food either at their home or at a community garden!  We have been coordinating extra efforts in our donations to include washing, packaging, and enclosing garden info cards (with tips and recipes!) inviting “family members” to grow with us and learn how to grow their own food while helping to feed the hungry in our community. 

A committed membership or fee is not required for the family members at S.A.F.E.  We do, however, encourage them to grow with us, work for an hour during any garden work day/night (many levels of tasks available!), for a share of that days harvest.  We are so thankful for the several family members that have joined our garden family both on a regular and occasional basis.  They all have expressed their joy in being able to give back what God has blessed them with.  And how they have enjoyed growing as a community, making new friends, learning how to eat and prepare healthy foods, and ever so thankful for God's abundant harvests.

Our growing partnership with S.A.F.E. includes the tentative plans of offering a dinner/cooking class later this month (and possibly ongoing) in order to further empower our neighbors of how to eat healthier and cook the foods shared by the food pantry (and the garden).  Thank you Andrew Hammond for leading this endeavor!  More details will be shared soon.

Also this month, we look forward to enjoying that first ripened tomato sandwiched in between some Duke's mayo (and a little pesto:) at our annual Tomato Sandwich gathering to be held again this year in conjunction with our Vacation Bible School celebration luncheon on Sunday, July 27th at 12:30 pm.  Mark your calendars with more details to follow!  Invite your friends!

Thank you everyone for your prayers and support of our garden.

It WILL be good!

-Donna Poe

Garden Coordinator

Many May Blessings in the Garden!

 Hi everyone.   

Despite the crazy weather we have been experiencing, our garden is growing and filled with an abundance of God’s Goodness!  Our early planted veggies are now prospering and producing to include spring mix, Romaine lettuce, kale, turnip greens, Swiss chard, spinach, asparagus, strawberries, and radishes! Very soon we will be enjoying some some broccoli, beets, carrots, and sugar snap peas!     Our potatoes, onions, leeks, and garlic are all doing great along with our recently planted tomatoes (really looking forward to that first ‘mater sandwich!), eggplants, peppers, and cucumbers.

We praise God for His many blessings to include His leading several new garden members to join our ministry as well as many returning members..and garden angels!  We also give praise and thankfulness again to God for our wonderful garden intern this past year, Melisa Peebles!  We are so happy that she has decided to come back often to work in the garden and worship with our church family!  We are also looking forward to meeting Andrew Hammond, our new garden intern next week along with Chris Gimmett who are both joining our church family as Duke Divinity interns for the summer.

Thank you everyone for your continued support and love for our garden! 

It WILL be good!

-Donna Poe

Garden Coordinator

Spring (finally!) and many warm blessings in the garden!

Greetings garden friends.  The presence of our Lord is warming the hearts of many as we enjoy our long awaited spring weather (despite the continued cold days here and there!) and new growth in the garden and membership!   Praise God for the many friends that joined us at our  “Wake up the Garden” event this past month followed by productive days of bed preppings, plantings, and additional new/renewed garden memberships. We have been blessed with several garden angels that enable all who want to garden to do so.  We continue to welcome new members to grow with us along with garden angels to help us grow!  Thank you to all!

Our garlic and strawberries are looking great and we have enjoyed a modest harvest of overwintered spinach.  Also planted for spring are several beds of spring mix, potatoes, onions, carrots, romaine lettuce, kale, beets, turnips, sugar snap peas, radishes, and broccoli.   Later in the month, we look forward to planting our first tomatoes, leeks, and zinnia transplants, along with seeds of marigolds, cucumbers, and squash. 

Our 6^th year beginning brings continued thankfulness and faith in God’s will and purpose for our garden ministry as we dedicate our efforts to feeding the hungry in our community through sharing our harvests.  We celebrate the connection of church and community as we work, learn and care for God’s creation together while experiencing Christian fellowship, love, joy and unity.

We are also so thankful for the love and leadership of our garden intern Melisa Peebles.  Our garden has been abundantly blessed with her beautiful spirit and care for God’s creation; and we pray for a harvest of happiness throughout her continued stewardship in the many “gardens” of her life.  We love you Melisa!!

Thank you again everyone for your prayers and support of our garden…It WILL be good!

“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow…The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor”. (1 Corinthians 3:6,8)

It WILL be good!

-Donna Poe

Garden Coordinator