Community Garden

The Mt. Si Community Garden project has officially begun! It was an exciting day yesterday as we started to dig out where the raised beds will go. This Saturday at 12:00pm we will have a work party to put together the raised bed boxes and fill them with dirt. There is a beautiful parallel between our garden project and Holy Week. On good friday these beds will just be empty boxes of dirt; reminding us of the death on the cross and the tomb. But the story doesn't end there! After Easter we will find Jesus risen to new life. Our garden will reflect the resurrection, the new life, and abundance we have in God.

Several people stopped by to see what we were doing as we painted lines on the yard. Here is a photo of laying out the garden



Here is what it looked like when we called it a day, well almost, we did clean it up a bit and put the corner posts for the fence in too.

This garden will be a place for people to grow vegetables for their families with the expectation that they donate at least 10% of their harvest to the local food bank. In addition to what people grow and donate several beds will be solely dedicated to growing food for the food bank. This will be an amazing way to connect local hungry families to fresh and local produce.

We live in a world where we are constantly called to discern what it means to be a follower of Christ. I haven't always found this to be an easy task. There are lots of issues and situations we face every day that demand us to reflect on who we are as people of faith and how our faith informs our actions. Given the enormity of the task of discipleship, I find tremendous solace in this community garden project. It doesn't let us off the hook by any means but it is a very simple way for us to put our faith in action. There are hungry people in our community, people who need healthy and nourishing food, we can grow it and give it to them. We can grow vegetables and empower them to grow their own, and in a small way break into the cycle of poverty in our community.

A garden is more than just dirt in the ground. It is also an intimate connection we have to the environment around us. This small patch of dirt yields food that will nourish us, our families, and our community. We are reminded of the charge we have been given to care for creation and live in a balance that ensures sustainability for all. I think we sometimes forget that we are connected to the land. Our food comes carefully cleaned and wrapped from the grocery store and sometimes we forget that it came from the ground--ground we need to protect and care for. A garden project like ours can help us remember where our food comes from, remember why we need to protect and care for creation.

I am excited about this garden project and the life it will bring to our community. For those of you who live in the Snoqualmie Valley region I hope you'll find a way to be involved!