Creation Care

"the land is mine...you are but aliens and tenants... you must provide for the redemption of the land."-- Lev. 25:23,24

As the Koinonia Community Garden, we are called to be partners with God in caring for creation in this place, being good stewards of the land, taking care to replenish and preserve it.

To that purpose, as the seasons turn, and the harvest of our summer crops is nearing completion, we planted some new crops for fall and winter-- carrots, kale, broccoli and onions.

As we clear out the summer plants from the beds, we are adding composted leaf mulch and planting cover crops to the beds for the winter. This will prevent erosion of the soil while adding humous and a green manure in the spring.
--DG

Got okra?

What's so great about okra!

 First it's from the north east of Africa and fits in perfect with our hot humid southern summers, having not problem producing it's green lady finger pods right up to the first heavy frost. The plant easily grows over your head no matter if you are 5 foot or 7 foot! Once the green pods start to form they literally grow over night!  Optimum picking size would be that of your little finger. When sliced a mucus like liquid is produced. This mucus combined with the fiber of the pod make great digestives. Okra is also high in folic acid, vitamins A and B with healthful minerals zinc, and calcium.

Favorite preparations are to slice into coins or spears for gumbo, soups, and fritters or leave whole for your best pickle recipe. I like to cut up the pods, soak in sour milk, batter in cornmeal/flour/salt/pepper and fry in oil. I can't eat this way all the time, it's a real splurge! So while the okra's fresh we indulge!

 --Pat H

Garden experience: getting your hands in the dirt...

 I have a cousin who lives in Maine, and often I can hear a phrase resonating from him to me--
"You gotta get your hands in the dirt".
He has been growing things his whole life; most of them are legal too. Anyway I am just getting acquainted with his phrase now. I have recently become a member of the Koinonia Garden, which first attracted my 12-year-old daughter when she passed the sign on the road. "Mom we should go check it out this week what do you think?"
Well all I needed was that invitation from her, and soon my nine-year-old boy chimed in ..."sure I'll do it too mom."
For the last several months we have tried to come each Saturday morning, and I have alternated time there with each of  my children. They have participated in the planting from the very start, helping to prepare the beds, setting up the hydration system, planting the seeds and now getting to harvest the wonderful bounty.
I don't know who has been more excited to see each of the seedlings sprout and grow every week and see the final product of everyone's labor.
For me I have always loved to be outside and working. I recently lost my mom in January, and I have found that being outside in my yard connecting with nature has been the most therapeutic thing I could ever imagine. I have also planted my own garden, of course with much guidance from my noble comrades from the garden who have guided me with their wisdom.
Not to mention I have loved getting to know each and every one of them and working side-by-side with them. For me I have had several moments of Zen just being there-- I even enjoy the sound of the cars passing by and different sounds coming from the garden tools clanking and voices about comments of the new week's activity, feeling welcomed every week by friendly kind faces who want nothing more than to see me happily existing in the garden with my family and to share as much as they can of the harvest already.
So now I know a little bit more at the meaning of getting my hands in the dirt, which too can cleanse the soul.
--A.S.

One year ago, we planted our first seeds

 

 "Be joyful in God, all you lands; sing the glory of his name; sing the glory of his praise.
"Say to God, 'How awesome are your deeds! All the earth bows down before you, sings to you, sings out your Name.'" --Ps. 66:1-3

We have much to celebrate this week.  It was just about a year ago that we made our first plantings at Koinonia Garden.  Much has transpired in the past year, and God has blessed us richly in this endeavor. Countless volunteer hours and gifts have already been contributed to Koinonia before we picked our first greens last fall.  It came about by faith, love, and hard work combined.

We are thankful that our garden shed is nearly complete. It looks great!
At this time we have an overabundance of produce including peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant and even sweet corn that we didn't have a year ago.  We have so much harvest now and work to do, that we could actually use some help.  So if you've been away or haven't had time to get out to the garden recently, your help would be greatly appreciated.
As you can see from the picture above, we did have some storm damage to the sweet corn this week, that we had to attend to, and we also picked sweet corn from the downed plants that was ready.
We have shared much produce to the pantry at Evergreen and the Benevolence at Christ Church.
This month we will begin planting some crops for the fall season.
We welcome you to join us and look forward to seeing you soon at the garden.
-- D

Steamy Saturday

There is a time for everything, and a time for every purpose under heaven.
A time to plant, and a time to uproot. -- Eccl. 3:1

Several of us worked in our garden this morning, arriving just as a brief shower passed through.

Continued work on the lasagna bed which is being built with layers of discarded grocery produce, and partially composted manure. Trimmed and tied tomato vines, thinned corn seedlings, and harvested root veggies.

Harvested and brought beets and carrots to the food pantry, and we were done.

Happy Fourth of July to all.
--D

Pruning, planting and summer tomatoes

Recently the garden has been blessed with timely rains, and our crops are responding with rapid growth.

We've been pruning and supporting our lanky tomato vines every week, and today we harvested the first of the regular tomatoes.  Cherry tomatoes have been ripening for a couple of weeks now.  We're trying to control fungus by cutting off lower branches that touch the ground.  It seems every time we come back there are more branches in need of cutting.  Behind the lower branches is where we've discovered ripening tomatoes we couldn't see from other angles. Our efforts are bearing fruit.

The first planting of sweet corn is now higher than our knees, and the second and third plantings are coming along.  The first beans are up, and more will be added once the ground dries a bit.  Cucumbers are growing, okra is just starting to come up.

Peas & lettuce out, cucumbers & beans in

This week brought the end of lettuce for our spring garden.  We harvested the last of the first planting of peas, and took out the plants.  We planted cucumbers and our first planting of green beans.  Next come the second planting of sweet corn and okra, as the last peas go out, probably the end of this week.
Little of our abundance goes to waste. Most of the lettuce and lots of peas went to the local food pantry, along with a large bag of Swiss chard picked this morning. The carrots are coming in, and more beets too.
We're seeing our first challenges from pests.  We lost two tomato plants to a disease that is spread by thrips.
And, we've destroyed Japanese Beetles that attacked the basil, eggplant and tomatoes.
It's all good.

Time for hot weather crops of summer

Summertime is nearly upon us, as our garden crops respond to the changing seasons.  We've been inundated with more lettuce than we can harvest and give away.  Spinach bolted and went out last week. 

Today we harvested the first banana peppers of the season, along with more chard, beets, peas, and of course lettuce.The next week is forecast to be much hotter than it has been with some rain possible.  Still we must water the corn as it has only started coming up and it may not withstand the temperatures near one hundred degrees.

June harvesting and planting

Our garden is beautiful and bountiful these days, as spring gives way to summer.
As the days grow longer and the temperature rises, it is good to go early in the morning to work before the heat builds. This morning was nearly ideal, as the early morning temperature was down into the 50s overnight. So when we got to the garden it was still pleasantly cool.
As spring gives way to summer, we are blessed with an abundance and variety of early produce-- lettuce, beets, peas, and spinach that we have been harvesting already.  Tomatoes, Swiss chard, carrots and herbs are growing.  Tomato supports have been set, and some sweet corn is planted and coming up now.
--Deborah

Spring planting

Spring this year has continued to be cool and wet here in North Carolina. Our earlier planted crops have been growing well.  In between we also weeded and mulched the blueberry patch near the church on a Saturday morning in April when the garden beds were too saturated to work in.

Blueberries starting to form

Finally the weather permitted us to get the tomatoes in this

month.

Tomato plant

Planting Tomatoes

The Food-Faith Connection

The Food-Faith Connection
There is a moral, spiritual implication re: our food choices.  Our garden is the best!  I am so very glad to be affiliated with Koinonia!!!   In your spare time (ha) listen to this podcast.  It underscores the connection between our food and our faith.
-- Jane F.
http://www.seedbed.com/connection-between-food-faith/

Why garden?

Why Garden?

I suspect the answer to that question may be different for each of us.  I grew up in a city and lived in an apartment as a child.  I remember going to visit my aunt and uncle every summer who lived in Michigan. They had a small hobby farm, complete with a big red barn and a haymow, apple trees for climbing and a large organic garden with compost pile.

At the age of seven, I was set down in this space and taught to pull weeds.  It was all so amazing-- tomatoes growing on vines, zucchini squash, carrots and strawberries!  From that came a lifelong love of gardening and growing my own whenever possible.  So now, being retired and living in an apartment, I jumped at the chance to join a community garden. --Deborah G.

So, why do you garden?

Share your thoughts in the comments below. 

After a slow start, planting at last

Spring has been a bumpy ride as it is wont to be! With a very wet winter and rain continuing into early spring we had a hard time getting in our spring crops. April 9^th proved to be a challenge for Day Manager, Kris Weigle and company as they valiantly sowed carrot seed in 25-30 MPH winds with gusts of 50!  But as of April 16 we have pulled the spring beds and planted all the planned seed except for the onions. Because of a seed shortage delay we have missed the window to plant green onions for Spring. But no worries—onions can just as happily be planted in the fall! 

There was some switching of what got planted in which beds because of soil arability of newly pulled beds, but other than that we planted: 2-3 types of kale, scarlet Nantes Carrots, Bloomsdale Longstanding Spinach, Rainbow Swiss Chard, English peas, four different types of lettuce, cilantro and my all-time favorite—radishes “on the end”!

Black-eyed peas and collards at New Year's

Collard soup, kale crackers and black eyed pea cakes

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016! 

I hope all are well rested and healthy having traversed the highways, byways and flyways to be with family and friends this Christmas. To mark the end of this decadent season and the start of 2016 my dinner with family will be a purgative meal of collard soup with kale crackers and a side of  black eyed pea cakes with roasted red pepper sauce. This is just a version of the traditional black eyed peas and collard greens we have all come the expect if not love. Enjoy your Veg however you like it best!

Looking Back at 2015

2015 was an amazing year at Koinonia Community Garden. In October we celebrated our garden with a dedication service. 

Dedication Prayer

"The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird waits in the egg. Dreams are the seedlings of realities."-- James Allen

This past Sunday afternoon a group of people from two congregations came together on a brilliant October day to dedicate the Koinonia Community Garden.  The ground where we stood overlooking beds of kale and collards was a wooded area one year ago.

Honey bee visiting flowering buckwheat

Much was accomplished by many people who worked together over the past year to bring this day into reality. There were many gifts and donations given by generous, caring people in our churches and community. It could not have come about except for the efforts of many who joined together, youth and adults.

Youth work day installing deer fencing

But it all came about because of a vision that one woman had thirty years ago. Pat Horton is a local gardener who shares much of her own garden produce with others.  But Pat was concerned
about those in our area who are living in a "food desert."
 One purpose is to provide fresh produce for the church food pantry that serves persons in a food desert.  Yes, hard to believe in 2015 but one in four households in our counties are lacking enough food.  One of five children in our schools are hungry. Just google "hunger in North Carolina" to get an idea.

"But he (Jesus) answered, 'You give them something to eat.'" --Mark 6:37

Thanks be to God for the bountiful harvest, the blessings of our working together, and the opportunity to serve our community. Koinonia is a labor of love and the witness of our faith.

Bok Choy and Chinese Cabbage

Raised beds

Cucumbers and Spinach

Hello and Happy New Year

Greetings, and welcome to our blog.