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GICD News Story Growing People News Volume 9, No. 2, Fall 2003

Project Report:  Church of Our Saviour Community Garden

Two members of The Church of Our Saviour on Jim Miller Road, Rebecca Smith and Jack Boedecker, started dreaming about a garden almost two years ago.  Their dream was kindled during a GICD presentation sponsored by Fr. Ed Sholty, who was then priest at the church.  

The community garden idea germinated for many months and, with the guidance of GICD, a garden plot was designed early this year and a cover crop planted.  At that point, progress almost stopped due to a lack of gardeners.

  GICD again helped out by connecting the church with another gardener, Bob Curry, adding forty yards of compost, cottonseed meal, dried molasses, donated plants and seeds, and a large dose of volunteer labor for a work day in early May.

  By June, the crops were beginning to mature and donations were starting for the Southeast Dallas Emergency Food Bank.  Still, the garden was understaffed with volunteer gardeners.  To make matters worse, the two key founders, Rebecca and Jack, both developed physical problems what limited their ability to work.

  Providence intervened in the form of a neighbor, Teri Laguardia, the wife of the minister at the neighboring Umphress Road Methodist Church.  Teri and the majority of the church congregation are from the Philippines and have a strong cultural tie to gardening.  Before long, Teri brought four additional gardeners and prospects for the garden were looking up.

  Even with the additional people power, the garden was still not fully planted.  Bermuda grass and nut weed were fast becoming major beneficiaries of the wonderful soil preparation.  Another work day in late summer, again supported by volunteers and seeds from GICD, helped remove the weeds then planted greens and beans for a fall crop.

  As the summer came to a close and school began, the gardeners contacted the principal of John Ireland Elementary School across the street from the garden.  As fate would have it, the principal and science teacher are enthusiastic about gardening and wanted their science club to take some remaining space.  During the first week of October, 25 gardeners from third through sixth grade made their way to the garden.  They helped with the weekly food bank harvest, thinned crops, and planted GICD donated seeds in their own plot.

  As a another bit of community linking, the bumper crop of fresh basil led to Kalachandji’s Restaurant, the highly ranked vegetarian cuisine provided by members of the Krishna Community in East Dallas.  Starting October 7, the Saviour garden has become their supplier of fresh basil.

  The garden and gardeners have made a lot of progress during the year and there are still many tasks for the future.  The garden needs a fence, improved watering system, compost bin, and a solution to the persistent nutgrass which encroaches from the adjacent field.  Because the church has a small congregation and limited funds, the gardeners will be expanding their efforts to raise funds from organizations and individuals in the community. 

  As the garden grows, the gardeners grow with it in many subtle ways through the sharing that occurs as people get to know each other.  The crops grown in the garden reflect the backgrounds of the gardeners.  Gardeners from the Philippines grow sweet potatoes just to eat the leaves, a concept unknown to most Dallasites.  The food bank and the school wanted more “greens” to satisfy the many African-Americans.   Mexican-Americans enjoy the spicy peppers.  As gardeners get to know the crops each other enjoy, there has been active recipe sharing that has encouraged everyone to learn and experiment.

  In many ways, the Our Saviour garden has been a miracle.  In addition to their community development, they have donated almost 700 pounds of produce to the food bank.  The church is now in the beginning stages of starting a fruit orchard.   Without the initial and ongoing support of GICD, the garden wouldn’t be there today.

  Story by Bob Curry

  © 2003  Gardeners in Community Development

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