Our Ward Garden

Our wonderful Bishop is so inspired. He wanted our ward to start a ward garden. Our bishop's father-in-law is a farmer but has suffered a lot of back problems and can't really farm anymore. He has allowed our ward to farm his land. Scott and Sandra Craven, who are new converts, are totally excited about the gospel, and are so committed to doing all they can, have been called to head this enormous project. They have done a phenomenal job. We have enough people in our ward who own tractors and other equipment that they have been able to plow the land so we could get started. A couple of months ago we met as a ward and planted for the first time. This garden is HUGE!

This is now an ongoing daily project which the whole ward is committed to. We take turns weeding and have already harvested some vegetables. Last Monday we had a family home evening at the garden. Kids and adults alike come and work. The young men and women started watermelon and pumpkin from seed and last week went and planted their plants. This project is getting all of us working together and having lots of fun doing it. The Cravens have even gone to people's homes and have arranged to have our home gardens tilled if we didn't have a way to do it ourselves. They are teaching us all kinds of stuff and we are all learning together new tips. As you can see, the white fence in the very back of the picture is the end of our garden. It's huge.

Some of the adults would pull the weeds and the kids would gather them up in buckets and dump them. It's great being able to get together and work. We are getting much closer as a ward family. Not only are we doing this project but our bishop encouraged everyone to order fruit trees to plant at our homes. Our ward ordered over a hundred trees that ward members have added to their own yards. We also had a demonstration on how to prune them. We are really getting prepared and it feels so good.

Brother Goodrich even donated two big flood lights so we can work after dark when it's cooler in the summertime. They were also installed last Monday.