Our mission at St. Paul’s as a Community Garden is to fulfill our moral obligation to feed those in need with the healthiest food possible. Renew our appreciation of our planet by teaching sustainable gardening practices. Teach healthy eating habits through nutritional instruction and accessible garden beds. Provide community service and outreach opportunities to our community, especially young people. Become a bridge for the community, linking schools, businesses, the health system, and the public together in a common cause of solving problems locally.
Opportunities to serve in the Ministry of the Environment
Community Garden
The garden is a vibrant, active, and successful program due to the many wonderful people involved, and with the support of the church. We strive to be an open and welcoming place for people in the community to engage with the land and our church. We look forward to a bountiful year of change, growth and new faces. We hope to see you at the garden!
Our mission is to engage the community in actions to grow healthy produce, connect with the land, and address the increased demand in our county for food assistance.
GARDEN SCHEDULE FOR THE SPRING SEASON
Spring arrived this week and the Community Garden at St. Paul’s is ready to get started in garden preparations. On March 30th and April 13th, Thrivent Financial has provided small grants for supplies and we encourage volunteers to come out from 9 AM to 1 PM. Volunteers continue to be welcome all grow-ing season but we have a special push on these days and t-shirts will be hand-ed out.
Several garden beds will be available for rental for those wishing to sign up as new gardeners. Talk with Nancy Long or Steve Choc if interested. Renewals will be sent an email with the application form for this 2019 garden season. Forms should be sent to Kathryn West in the church office.
Mar 30 – *Garden Clean-Up ALL Volunteers
Apr 6 Finish prepping beds for planting, bed repairs; prep fence/gate repair
Apr 13 – *Gate/Fence Repair ALL Volunteers
Apr 20 – (Easter Weekend off)
Apr 27 – Final Cleanup & Prep for Expo
May 4 – EXPO & Plant Sale
May 11 – Plant all veggie plants & herbs
Compost
Helen Heinmiller leads our compost program, and with great success! Her compost team produced enough compost to add to all of our 40+ garden beds. This is a special program that helps us be more sustainable and provide for healthier soil, plants, and vegetables!
Food Bank Partnership
In our continued relationship with the Chester County Food Bank, we receive seeds and transplants in exchange for donating our produce to local agencies that need food. In the past, we were able to deliver directly to the food bank for distribution. However, that program has ended, and we now coordinating our own delivery of produce directly to select agencies with the help of our great volunteers! We are currently looking at deliveries to agencies in Coatesville and West Chester.
If you live near one of these communities and would enjoy delivering produce occasionally, please let us know!
Bee Program
We have two active honey bee hives. It is probable that we will be able to harvest honey from one of the hives late this year. While we enjoy honey the honey bees make the honey bees are helping our garden produce more fruits and vegetables plus helping to pollinate the flowers of native plants and trees.
In addition to the benefits of the honey and higher productivity of the garden, our honeybees are adding to the genetic diversity of colonies of honey bees that are living the surrounding woods and fields neighboring St. Paul’s. This is something that research suggests is a good thing for the environment and good for wild colonies of bees.
Loving Our Earth Expo
Saturday, May 4, 2019 – 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Hosted by St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Exton
Join us for a fun festival dedicated to honoring the earth. This event will be open to the public with activities for all ages.