August 23, 2023
Youth from Christ School spent time volunteering with us this past Saturday -- I would call them Generation A… (Assurance!!!) This group of young men arrived on the Pantry campus eager to begin working in the pantry and garden. Initially they made their way to the LAF (Lord's Acre of Fletcher) garden while it was still cool and weeded row after row of beans that were being taken over by the weeds. No task was too small for them to take on. Garden Master Doug Kearney shared with them our late summer and fall plan of preparing our garden for the plantings. After completing the garden tasks, they made their way to the pantry where they enthusiastically worked shopping with the "neighbors," pushing carts of food to the neighbors' cars, and helping to distribute produce. In my opinion, the A stands for ASSURANCE. These youth demonstrate Assurance in so many ways, working with confidence in their own abilities in the garden and transitioning to working with others in distributing food to our neighbors who have food insecurity. Christ School is setting a great example for our next generation.
Other activities this week included a WLOS Carolina Kitchen segment videoed in the garden. Chef Martha prepared a salsa recipe using diced tomatoes, black beans, peppers, and corn with a side of corn chips. Our successful Back to School school supplies drive ended. The items, which fill one of our large shelves, will be distributed this coming Saturday 8/26. We welcomed 121 families representing 427 individuals. Fourteen new families had the opportunity to shop with a volunteer and select from the donations received this week.
We had lots of donations this week including school supplies, Tractor.farms-600 ears of freshly picked corn. Bimbos and City Bakery filled our bread racks with bread and bakery items. Bright Farms donated 20 cases of salad kits. Other donors include Flavor-First-5 cases of corn, tomatoes & peppers, Wal-Mart and Big Lots-misc items and food, Project Dignity-feminine products, Humane Society- dog/cat food and MilkCo-milk. Nativity Lutheran, Fletcher Methodist, Calvary Episcopal, Tabernacle of Praise Churches and other anonymous donors contributed their time, food, and misc. items during the week.
On behalf of the Executive Committee, thank you to our volunteers and our area churches, civic groups, local merchants, and families for all you do to feed our community helping to reduce food insecurity. We thank you and appreciate your food and monetary donations.
news from the lord’s acre, fletcher
PLANT, COVER, AND PULL — THURSDAY AT 6:30PM
Join us in the Lord's Acre, Fletcher garden Thursday evening (8/24) as we plant a few more collards (36 more will bring us to almost 300), cover what's planted with insect cover, and pull spent cucumber plants to get ready for a crop of fall beets.
A lot of area gardeners are throwing in the towel for the year since their summer vegetables are fading. Not us! We are getting ready now for a full fall of beets, lettuce, and collards in the field, and even some cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes in the hoop house that may well continue past first frost in mid-October.
It will still be quite warm in the evening; we'll have ice water available.
GOD LOVES EVEN THE HAZELNUT
“And in this he showed me a little thing, the quantity of a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed. And it was as round as any ball. I looked upon it with the eye of my understanding, and thought, ‘What may this be?’ …And I was answered in my understanding: It lasts and ever shall, for God loves it. And so have all things their beginning by the love of God.” --Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love
Beth and I planted two hazelnut trees five years ago, in part to honor the writings of Julian of Norwich, a 14th c. anchoress (essentially a hermit who secludes herself permanently away from the world, usually in a cell attached to the wall of a church.)
This week, we were given our first harvest, a double handful of hazelnuts, one of which is in the photo.
Julian, writing from visions she received during a near fatal fever, reminds us that everything, no matter how small and insignificant, exists because God loves it. Remember that the next time you're in the garden. One thing you have in common with the rabbit running to the wood's edge, the beet seed you’ve just buried, the worm you've unearthed, and the worker at your shoulder, is that they exist because God loves them. God created them out of love and loves them still. And that goes for you, too. —Doug
RAISED BED BUILDING SATURDAY OCT 14 & 21, 1PM
If you can screw two boards together, we want you! On Saturday afternoons, October 14 and 21, 1pm, we'll be putting together 10 ft. boxes, twenty-eight of them (!) that will become the raised beds replacing the current in-ground beds in the LAF garden. We'll need several teams of folks with corded and cordless drills and impact drivers to put together the boxes.
You'll hear more about this soon. In the meantime, please put these dates on your calendar now. (The boxes will be assembled in October but will not be set in place until the collards are harvested in early November.)
