Communities First

Last spring, though the rains incessantly continued, the days were lengthening and we broke ground on the backyard.  Our church was trying something new.  We planted a garden.

As the tiller chewed the sod, with optimism, I wondered where this was leading us.  Our hope was to bring our church outside the walls, bringing church members, neighbors, and the community together in some small way.

The idea was to accomplish that through tending the soil, creating a beautiful space, and sharing the bounty.  While we somewhat blindly felt our way through the first growing season, it worked.  Five Loaves Farm brought together people from our church, neighbors, and those in need.

One evening while we harvested produce to distribute to the neighbors, a family who often walked by the garden showed a strong interest in our activities.  They walked through the garden with tons of questions.  The mother and father – who spoke no English – pointed and smiled at the different plants.  The son and daughter asked about the artichokes and told how their mother uses different foods in her traditional Indian dishes.  After several minutes of conversation and sharing stories they joyfully continued their walk with a bag overflowing with tomatoes, squash, beans, and peppers.  We went back to our harvest. 

An hour later, a car drove up and the son jumped out with a bag of Swiss chard.  He handed me the bag with a smile stating that, with gratitude, they wanted to share with us something from their home garden.  Perhaps next year, I'll taste one of his mother's meals.

Dave Timmer