Bill
McKibben describes a program run by Vineyard Boise -- the Garden
O'Feedin -- in a recent edition of Plenty Magazine, and it reminded me
of some of the research we did for our green sunday school
class. I love to see examples of churches that are living as if they
actually believe that the creation is good and that we are called to
serve "the least of these."
Here’s the first thing I like about Bill Meeker, head gardener at the
Garden O’ Feedin’, which provides free, fresh, organic food for poor
people all over the greater Boise, Idaho, area: When I ask him how his
one-third acre of raised beds could possibly have produced 20,776
pounds of vegetables last year, he answers, 'Well, God’s involved.'
...
When other churches visit to ask about setting up their own gardens, he
tells them the secret is “three crucial things—compost, compost, and
compost.”
Parishioners now arrive at Vineyard Boise carrying
table scraps. They collect lawn clippings, but “only if they didn’t use
any chemicals on the lawn,” cautions Meeker. Volunteers turn, turn,
turn the compost bins. Companion planting—sugar snap peas with
radishes, herbs with tomatoes—is practiced. Bible school classes help
with the harvests on Tuesday and Friday nights.
When those in
need arrive each Wednesday and Saturday, they start at a tent with a
regular food bank—stuff in cans and bags. Then they visit the free
medical clinic. And then they stop at what’s informally known as a
“benevolent farmers’ market for no-cost produce.” Exchanges aren’t
always Sunday-school sweet. “You see a lot of people come in who aren’t
very thankful. They want more or not what you have. But they’re God’s
children, just like me,” Meeker says. “If you keep that in mind, it’s
okay.”
...
Churches offer something else: a physical location, with ground to
plant. They can provide a place to start making real the commandment
from Genesis to till the earth and the Gospel sanction to feed the
hungry. Last year the Garden O’ Feedin’ alone grew 2,200 pounds of
cantaloupe—how do you like them apples?
Bill
McKibben describes a program run by Vineyard Boise -- the Garden
O'Feedin -- in a recent edition of Plenty Magazine, and it reminded me
of some of the research we did for our
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