Greetings and Happy Spring!

I hope you are well and happy and getting ready for planting and getting outside after months of days huddled up inside.  I had scheduled a workday in the Community Garden for February 16, but it rained, so I am planning on another day in the garden on Saturday March 15.  Come and join us if you can.  It is a good way to get some exercise, sunshine and help the garden get underway.  I am very excited about this project and proud of all we have accomplished to date.  We have done everything so far using the $2500.00 from the Trull Foundation and many hours of volunteerism.  I have a new brochure to share with the community at the Fish Fry and hope it generates a little more funding.  I have been working with a grant writer at Methodist Healthcare Ministries Corporate office and with the last proposal I was asked to submit a “vision” of the garden project and I will share it with you here:

Standing in the breezeway of the church, I look across the street at the flourishing community garden.  I am filled with pride and a sense of accomplishment as I walk over and enter through the tall gate with vines and flowers climbing and cascading down.  Strolling over soft pathways created with mulch and wood chips, I see that several individuals and families are weeding their 4’x16’ plots and harvesting ripe tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, and an abundance of other fresh vegetables.

It has taken two years of planning, applying for funds and working with volunteers on many Saturdays to get to this point.  Driven by the knowledge of the need in this community to get nutritious foods the tables of elderly citizens and families on low income, who have limited places to shop and are unable to get to town due to rising gas prices, I am grateful that the church offers a place and the opportunity to grow a garden.  Over to the left, under an oak tree, children are working with an elderly man constructing bird houses and learning about how to attract different types of birds and helpful insects to the garden.  They stir up the compost and observe the earthworms busy with the work of aerating the soil.

Toward the back of the garden, ladies gather in the prayer garden where there is a water fountain, a small altar and flowers filling the air with fragrance.  The water tank is full and the rain barn is ready for the skies to open up and test its ability to harvest the rain.  Tools are abundant in the shed and the residents of Lakehills are coming together in a way they never have before—learning, sharing information and seeds.  They display the fruits of their labor on shared tables, and feel the glow of their service to one another.

As people drive by, they read the signs on the fence that acknowledge all the individuals, groups and organizations who have donated money and time to the project.  They notice how the garden has enriched the neighborhood with beauty and camaraderie, and stop to inquire how they too may be a part of it.

As I walk out of the garden, I remind everyone about the educational program with the Master Gardener this

evening and they all say they will be there.

Please join me in my vision and let’s make this a reality!

Blessings,

Kathy Bates RN

“And if you give your bread to those in need of it, so that the troubled one may have his desire; then you will have light in the dark, and your night will be as the full light of the sun; And the Lord will be your guide at all times; in dry places he will give you water in full measure, and will make strong your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like an ever-flowing spring”

Isaiah 58:10-11

This page updated 3/6/2008