Cason United Methodist gets ready to expand community garden

Thu 20 Aug 2009

Lois K. Solomon

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

DELRAY BEACH-- A colorful community garden of fruits, herbs and vegetables will soon bloom, bigger than last year, at Cason United Methodist Church in Delray Beach.

Amateur gardeners tended 20 plots last year, but 30 will be available for the coming season, which begins Nov. 1, coordinator Candy Evans said. Gardeners will hold a seed exchange and workshop on Saturday, their first preseason event.

"The demand forced us to expand," Evans said. "We will keep expanding as long as the demand is there."

Last year, in its first season, the garden produced strawberries, green beans, Swiss chard, heirloom tomatoes, melons, collard greens, beets, herbs and six kinds of peppers. Participants donated about 300 pounds of produce to the Caring Kitchen, a nearby soup kitchen.

Cason's garden joins a small but growing national corps of community gardens operated by churches. The weak economy, incidents of contamination in the food supply, a desire to feed the poor fresh food and a new emphasis on environmental stewardship have combined to create a surge of interest, said Holly Lebowitz Rossi, who is writing a book and keeps a blog, Sparks in the Soil, on church gardens.

"This year has really shown a boom," she said.

The garden is part of a growing consciousness in Delray Beach about home-grown food and the food supply. Cason will host a potluck "Eat-In" on Sept. 7, joining sites around the country that seek to improve the nutritional quality of school-supplied lunches.

Evans and fellow coordinator Lori Robbins, both Cason members, came up with the idea for the garden as a way to revive the church, which the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church threatened with closure two years ago for its shrinking membership. A task force recommended disbanding the 106-year-old congregation, which had been losing members for about 20 years, but members voted to develop a plan to save the church.

The garden is among several new ministries at the church. The Rev. Linda Mobley, Cason pastor, believes the garden is a nonthreatening way to welcome potential new congregants. Sunday attendance has increased to 165 from about 90 this time last year.

"It's a good vehicle for our people to meet neighborhood people so everyone is comfortable," she said, "instead of walking up to a stranger and saying, 'Can I tell you about my church?' |"

Elizabeth Reilly of Delray Beach and her daughter, Reilly Arena, 10, tend a plot at Cason but attend Trinity Lutheran Church across the street. They plan to expand the bumper crop of tomatoes, broccoli, eggplant and onions they grew last year by adding broccoflower, garlic, pole beans and sweet potatoes.

"It's a real community of lovely people who are all there for a purpose," said Reilly, who discovered the garden as she dropped her daughter off for Sunday school. "I can't wait for next season."

Lois Solomon can be reached at lsolomon@SunSentinel.com or 561-243-6536.