This is the third of seven Field Notes articles by John Marek focusing on sustainable living, community agriculture and food security. These “Summer of Sustainability” columns feature practical advice on growing, harvesting and preserving your own foods as well as more philosophical essays on life and how we live in the modern world.
In last week’s column, I discussed the various forms of community-based agriculture. This week, I want to continue that theme and focus on a specific aspect of community agriculture, the faith-based community garden.
As I have previously described, I have been the volunteer manager of a community garden sponsored by New Beginnings Moravian Church of Huntersville since 2019. Ninety percent of our garden’s output is donated to Angels & Sparrows Soup Kitchen and the remaining 10 percent is delivered to our congregation’s elderly and shut-in members through our Visiting Farmers program.
Charitable community garden projects whose purpose is to grow fresh produce for the food insecure of the community face two daunting challenges: land and labor. In many suburban and exurban communities, the price of land makes any garden startup fiscally tricky, and the availability of reliable volunteer labor further complicates the equation. This is where churches of all denominations can play a critical role in establishing and maintaining community-based agricultural programs.
Most churches own acres of land, used either minimally or entirely unused. Churches acquire this land for various purposes, including future growth, as a buffer from commercial or residential properties or even as an investment. The rural 13 acres where New Beginnings Moravian Garden is located was purchased for future expansion of the church as the town stretches east along Hwy. 73, but even small churches within city limits generally have unused acreage.
The other limiting factor in charitable community gardening is labor. Planting, watering, weeding, harvesting and packing are extremely labor-intensive activities. A modest quarter-acre plot will require 20-30 hours of volunteer labor per week during the busiest part of the growing season. Soliciting that amount of volunteer labor and managing it efficiently is a tall order for a startup nonprofit, but most churches already have a volunteer infrastructure in place. The same methodology that staffs the nursery and designates the weekly ushers can be used to provide garden helpers. The critical part is accepting that the garden is a ministry, not a club or social activity.
Faith-based community gardens fulfill the biblical mandate to feed the hungry and provide opportunities for fellowship and outreach. Still, a common critique of faith-based community gardens is cost, with the refrain, “Why don’t we just use the money we’d spend on the garden to buy food and give that to the hungry?”
Establishing an attractive, productive community garden does not have to be expensive. A quarter-acre plot can be established for as little as $700 and will likely yield produce with a market value at least twice that in the first growing season. And fresh vegetables are a healthier alternative to packaged, processed foods that are more typically donated to pantries.
Finally, at the risk of sounding like a ’70s-era hippie, gardening can be an extremely spiritual experience. There is something transcendent about working the soil and bringing forth sustenance from it; the quiet rhythm of weeding and picking is an ideal time for thought and reflection.