An East Stanford Neighborhood Garden Update

In 2015 Schweitzer Church made space for a neighborhood garden amidst the city. We had no idea how significant creating a garden would be. Yet we knew a garden is significant, in scripture we see that when God's kingdom touches earth, there is a renewal of the earth, and gardens exists, with plants that bring healing to the nations. The following is a report by garden coordinator Ken Bass. Ken writes beautifully about the garden experience of 2021. You can follow the garden on their Facebook page.

Here is Ken's report for 2021!

Planting in the Spring

Garden in Bloom

Gardening is all about finding faith in what the future holds. When Schweitzer Church started its neighborhood garden six years ago, it truly was all about faith. Schweitzer created this garden to promote, create, and maintain a sustainable green space to encourage community involvement in the Oak Grove neighborhood through gardening. So today I want to take time to reflect on what the garden has become. 

The garden currently has forty-two gardeners who grow produce for their own use. The East Stanford Neighborhood Garden, as we have named it, has grown to be the most successful and largest community garden in Springfield. Among these forty-two gardeners are Burmese refugees, an African immigrant, and neighbors from the Oak Grove area, quite an eclectic group, and the common language they speak is garden.

The variety of plants grown this year include cabbage, okra, carrots, turnips, bush beans, snake beans, long beans, peppers, squash, pumpkins, peanuts, roselle-Asian sour leaf,  bitter melon, sunflowers, tomatoes, potatoes, mustard greens, peas, Swiss chard, ginger, lemon basil, beets, corn, cauliflower, onion, leeks, Pak choi, kale, celery, peppers, and parsnips. 

All total this year we have produced 4,977 pounds of  garden produce. This was accomplished in 77, 4 ft. by 12 ft. garden plots. One of our neighborhood gardeners produced over 650 lbs. from just two of these plots. Another has canned over 57 quarts of beans, as well as beets, corn, and other produce to sustain his family through the winter. Our Burmese gardeners have harvested enough sour plant, bitter melon,  and peppers to help feed their community thru the winter months.

Schweitzer Church is working in partnership with Springfield Community Gardens(SCG). SCG has provided our garden with a high tunnel, from which a group of 8 of our gardeners harvested 250 lbs. of sweet potatoes this past Saturday which were shared with all of our gardeners. Springfield Community gardens has also provided us with a greenhouse to help us start our own plants for next season. 

The one thing our garden lacks is volunteers. There are daily tasks that have to be completed to make sure the garden is a success. Do you like meeting new people and learning about other cultures? Do you like being outside in the fresh air? Do you like having flexible times you can volunteer, morning, mid-day, evening, the garden has a spot for you? Plans are being made for the next growing season. Now is the time to get involved.