Church garden cultivates beds, beauty and community

Patrick Powers held up three or four carrots he'd just pulled out of the soil. Before he started gardening, numerous people or things might have touched those carrots before they reached his mouth: farmers, farmworkers, pesticides, food handlers, grocers all part of a system of efficient food-processing that he had some familiarity with working in the restaurant industry for 35 years.

Now, it's straight from the ground to his plate, a feeling he says he can't describe.

"It's fun being a farmer," he said.

Patrick rents a plot for $40 a year at Redeemer's Field, a year-old community garden on land owned by the Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer in Sacramento, Calif.

The project, which broke ground in March of last year, transformed an empty church lot into a source of healthful and affordable food for community members.

The value of a community garden is clear, said Bill Maynard, who has helped build community gardens around Sacramento for 20 years and works as the community garden coordinator for Sacramento's Department of Parks and Recreation.

"It's about bringing the community in and showing they have worth," he said. Maynard advised the church throughout the construction process, from planning to financing and connecting the church with volunteers.

At Redeemer's Field, there are 20 occupied beds growing anything and everything, from bulbous watermelon and heirloom tomatoes to cinnamon basil and zucchini squash. Red grapevines hug one side of a bordering chain link fence, and a line of burgeoning fruit trees welcomes visitors near the entrance gate, open at all hours of the day. At the center lies a bed of proud sunflowers raised by a member who lives in an apartment across the street.

The garden's construction required many hands, including non-church members, neighbors and community service organizations such as AmeriCorps to till the soil, pave walkways and build wooden box plots. With much of the work done, the project is still expanding: A picnic bench area is planned to give visitors a proper place to sit.

The farm-to-fork movement isn't central to the mission of the church, which has held services at the site for 60 years, said Lisa Mulz, a member of the congregation who helped build the garden.

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Church garden cultivates beds, beauty and community