Sharing the Harvest
In this season of harvest festivals, we are celebrating the growing number of community gardens in Mustard Seed churches, providing fresh fruit and vegetables for church food pantries/community stores and community meals.
Churches are using their own land to create community gardens, some are well established like the Genesis Project at St Oswald’s Church, Middlesbrough. (Others include Holy Trinity North Ormesby, St Hilda’s Greatfield and St John’s Rosmead Street, Hull). The gardens provide a space for the community to come together to learn new skills and enjoy the physical exercise of gardening. They also provide somewhere to relax in the beauty of creation in the heart of our urban communities. You can watch a lovely film about the Genesis Community Garden.
Other churches are working in partnership with the local council to create community gardens within unused community spaces. St John’s Bransholme, have created the fantastic St John’s Community Garden at the Bespoke Centre near to the church. The garden provides lots of fresh produce that is shared at the Church Community store, and regular garden days allow local children and families to enjoy getting involved and learning about growing at the garden.
We are looking forward to watching how new church garden projects grow over the coming months. Ashley has a vision to use an allotment to grow fresh fruit and veg for the weekly meal for the homeless at Emmanuel Church Bridlington, which regularly feeds over 30 people. Sue is working on plans at the Church of the Ascension in Berwick Hills to create a community garden behind their church and Liam has a similar vision to use his gardening skills at Christ Church, Eston.
Let’s celebrate the rich harvest of all that is growing through these church community garden projects.