Community Garden: The Kingdom of God is like

The community garden down the hill has been a busy and interesting place this summer. This garden of twenty seven 6X1 size gardens has become a place of comfort and joy for Luther Seminary students turned-gardeners this summer as has been in many past summers. On this garden are planted many types of vegetables reflecting the multi-cultural character of Luther. Vegetables you may find include; kale, collard greens, spinach, risosa, egg plant, green beans, peas, squash, cucumber, squash, sesame, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, Kunde, Mchicha, Rinagu and many more.

For me, this community garden has become a sacred place to visit for reflection and relaxation. Here, high sense of commitment is exercised and faith is core for gardeners and visitors alike. Each day at five o’clock people from “everywhere” converge there, each with clear purpose; to tend, to water or to just visit with the personal garden in the community garden. The love with which the gardeners tend their gardens is unmistakable. Sometimes in silence and focus. Other times in spoken exchange between gardeners. This love is present even in the absence of individual gardeners. Therefore, being absent or away from the garden does not mean that the garden will go unattended. Instead, help to keep the garden alive is sought and found among the gardener community.

Children are not left out in this task of tending plants in the garden. Their little hands and feet, back and forth with little buckets helping with watering the plants or calling out how they might be of help. Pets are not left out either. They watch from the fence as gardeners work and excitedly wait for the owners to "return."

This evening ritual has become a time and place for Luther community to connect and share ideas on garden and other things. It is a time to meet those members of community you never get to see; especially the spouses. Therefore, the community garden has brought us together in time and space to share a recipe, a greeting, a smile, a thought, a question, a concern. And so, relationships become built round garden and plant talk. Often, these relationships go beyond talking to visiting one another and sharing the food at our homes.

Through this garden our core value of environmental protection is reflected in the planting of organic foods. Organic foods are produced according to certain production standards, meaning they are grown without the use of conventional pesticides, artificial fertilizers, human waste, or sewage sludge. For this reason members of the community garden have chosen to invest their time and energy on these precious gardens.

Other than planting from scratch, some interesting methods of planting are not scarce on our community garden. As we enjoy seeing plants grow from regular ground soil, we become more amazed at those plants growing upside down from hang containers as they search their way up in their upside down position. I was informed that this method of growing plants is called “topsy turvy.” In this very garden, are used support wires as well as sticks, for keeping such plants as tomatoes from falling. Whatever, the support material or system to contain the tomato plant, the desired result is the same: red ripe and juicy tomatoes to enjoy. It is so exciting to witness and experience the joy expressed and shared at the first harvest. Sharing one or more red ripe tomatoes with neighbor and friend is heartwarming. Stories have been shared on the recipes for cooking tomatoes and vegetables from different cultures. For me, this sharing of vegetables and knowledge reminds me of the beloved community where hospitality reigns supreme. It is, for me, the Kingdom of God where people come from everywhere to worship God in spirit and truth. In God's community subsistence living as in subsistence farming is the norm, neither quantity nor numbers seem to count; rather, crucial is the substance inherent in the community of “gardeners” that "while we were yet sinners God loved us" to help us love back in loving others.

So, in this community garden cultures and memories come alive. Family members are remembered and named as mentors and teachers to our gardeners from Africa, Korea, Europe and America. In a moment we become connected with our loved ones from far and near, now and later, yesterday and today.

In another moment unknown cross cultural discoveries of vegetable recipes become known among Luther community garden members. It is no wonder then that excitement and joy become no strangers to the gardener who discovers his or her native vegetable and grows them for use.

I am glad to be a member of Luther’s community garden. You, too, are welcome!