VALENTE: Many Americans are getting back to the garden. These students in Cedar Grove, North Carolina brave intense summer heat as they learn to grow fruits and vegetables in a community garden.
STUDENT: You can just pull it right out, and just rinse ”˜em off and you can eat ”˜em.
KATE FORER: Right here we have sweet potatoes, that are doing fabulously, as you can tell.
VALENTE: Kate Forer, who manages the garden, is also an ordained minister.
FORER: Having the experience of planting a seed and having the faith that it’ll grow into a plant that will eventually sustain me is a spiritual experience. And ultimately I really, really feel like food is a sacred gift from God and that’s something that we tend to forget about in our culture.
My zucchini are doing fabulously this year. Almost too well, LOL. My plants are producing absolutely huge zucchini abundantly. I check them every day and they’re going from 4-inch long zucchini to over a foot long within 2 days. I’m not exaggerating at all. They’re huge but also very tender and flavorful.
Everyone who crosses my threshold receives a zucchini as a parting gift, hahahaha. I’m giving away 3 zucchinis to every 1 I keep right now. I can get 3 uses out of every zucchini for myself, and one easily provides veggies for a family of four’s evening meal.
That’s a big part of the blessing of gardening! Sharing with others! Not only veggies but recipes and tips and fellowship. I took my son’s girlfriend out to the garden this weekend to choose the zucchini that she wanted and we picked lettuce for our supper salad, too. She was so excited! She enjoys cooking and baking and we have bonded over cooking together, sharing recipes, and meals. I bought her a bread machine for Christmas and she uses it all of the time to bake loaves for family and friends.
I often ponder, especially when I’m in my garden, how good God is. Not only did He design an Earth that gives us an abundance of good things but He also came in human form to this Earth and gathered people together, around Himself and around a table. He even infused a meal with deep meaning, sacredness, and eternal life.