Matthews church grows garden to feed the hungry

Correspondent

Carolina clay, sub-freezing temperatures and even sleet have proven no match for the garden behind Matthews United Methodist Church.

Parishioner Lois West stops short of crediting divine intervention, but she says all the right forces are on the project’s side.

For West, it’s perseverance. The weather “is killing my lettuce,” she said half-jokingly at the 80-foot-by-40-foot plot on a recent cold, dank Monday morning, shortly after the latest wintry mix. “But it’ll come back.”

So will the kids who helped get the garden started.

The garden, begun last April, is a youth ministry outreach created with the hope it becomes intergenerational. The selection of rotating vegetables are donated to the church’s homebound program, as well as the Matthews HELP Center.

Although adults – led by West – take over much of the maintenance and picking of vegetables during the school year, the church wants the garden to become a community project for all ages.

Laurie Little, youth minister at the church, said students stand to benefit.

“It’s a big deal, because we’ve never done anything like this here,” said Little, of Charlotte. “We developed it for our Wednesday night program for our youth ministry. They’re able to sign up for things that they’re interested in, they want to learn about, or that they’re gifted at, and see how they can use those things for ministry.

“With all this space, and because community gardens have become such a big deal right now, I thought it might help these kids who live in a community of affluence and just kind of give them a feeling of, ‘All right, this is something we can use and take from here that we can use to serve others.’ ”

Although this isn’t the most fertile time of year for the garden, West plucked a carrot and some other vegetables from the cold dirt. She comes out about once a week in winter to tend a bounty that has included mixed lettuces, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, radishes, collards, spinach, scallops, garlic and red onions.

West and Little were uncertain how much food has been distributed.

“I should get a scale,” West said. The two said about 30 grocery bags full of mixed greens were delivered recently to the HELP Center and the homebound program, where parishioners cook and deliver food weekly.

Not a bad haul, given the humble beginnings.

Some seeds were donated, others paid for by the ministry, Little said. The initial investment, including mulch, water hoses and seeds, was about $500.

“What we get from it has been ridiculous,” Little said. “We couldn’t be more excited.”

The process has had its educational moments that could ultimately prove a positive as well:

“One of the things we’ve learned is that it’s, like, three years before you have the greatest soil to make it go,” Little said. “Once we turn this over (sometime around mid-February) and the nutrients get in and mixed around, we’ll have a better garden.”

Students will plant selections including corn, green beans, pepper, tomatoes, zucchini and cucumbers for spring. In the meantime, West sees the project growing interest and good will.

“I had a neighbor drop his grandchildren off at preschool one day,” the Matthews resident said. “We had a big old pile of leaves; he stopped and helped me move the pile for a few hours. And sometimes preschools come out. I had a teacher tell me she brought her kids out here just to see it.”

“That’s one of our goals – to make this an intergenerational thing,” Little said. “Now with the kids in school, we need the help of others to make it self-sustaining.”

Summer vacation holds the biggest promise in terms of student activity.

“In the summer, we have kids come out several days a week,” Little said. “You hope it pushes people to think a little bit, because kids can do a lot. You’re teaching about eating healthy, and eating what’s available at the time – buying locally with what’s there, which is huge.”

West and Little hope they can extend the garden a little at some point.

But Little’s larger hope is that “people will start their own and see how they can serve the community.”