Spring Cleaning is Underway...

      Spring Cleaning is underway at eastward in Eden.  God has again blessed Mountain Chapel's Garden Ministry this past growing season.  We have picked the majority of our Fall/Winter crops and are preparing to plant for the Spring/Summer. This was a great Fall growing season for our garden.  We were able to provide fresh produce to the missions we support around Birmingham, providing lettuce, radishes, carrots, cabbage, kale, broccoli, as well as other select crops.
      Below you will find some pictures of one of our last harvests of the Fall crops.  We look forward to a great Spring/Summer growing season.

Mountain Chapel's Garden Ministry will now be known as :

eastward in Eden

 After a year without settling on a name, we finally got around to it.  After considering several possibilities, we settled on eastward in Eden.  The name was derived from Genesis 2:8 which says: "And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed."  As an outreach ministry of Mountain Chapel UMC, our focus is on sharing the love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We believe eastward in Eden conveys the dual message that we are both gardening and serving our Lord through this ministry.  

We look forward to embracing our new name as we begin our second year.

 

Spring garden expansion is underway.

Expansion of eastward in Eden 2012

This spring, our garden ministry, eastward in Eden, is beginning its education program, helping others learn about healthy gardening, by providing organic seeds, gardening knowledge, labor, and guidance, in an effort to help others start their own healthy gardens at home. 

We have signed up six people for host gardens, which will be located in their yard or location of their  choosing, with seeds, knowledge, guidance, and other assistance our gardeners will help them raise a garden.  The produce from the garden would be theirs to enjoy and share with the ministries our church garden supports.  Host gardens will come in two sizes, full size 4 x 8, and half size 4 x 4.

The overall idea is to increase production of our Garden while at the same time making it easier for people to get involved and learn about healthy gardening.

The crops we will be focusing on are:

o   Tomatoes

o   Peppers

o   Zucchini

o   Squash

o   Okra

o   Cucumbers

o   Personal preference possibilities for host gardeners:  lettuces, herbs, etc.

We look forward to a new year at eastward in Eden.

Preparing for our second year

   Spring is here and for our garden, it marks the beginning of our second year.  Our Fall garden is still producing and not ready to be pulled yet.  However, plans for Spring are in full swing.  This year we look forward to expanding our garden and kicking off the education phase of our mission.  Exactly how we plan on doing that will be shared in the near future, so until then enjoy a few pics from the Fall garden:

Garden update 6-29-11

Hello all,

     Just wanted to give a brief update about the Mountain Chapel Garden Ministry.  Our squash is going strong and producing 15-20 pounds of squash per week, that we are delivering to Urban Ministry.  Okra, beans, tomatoes, lettuce, and peppers are all coming in now as well.
     We have also planted some sunflowers to contribute to the health of the garden, as well as add beauty.

God bless.

Garden Update 6-14-11

     As an update on the progress of the Garden Ministry, we continue to harvest squash on a regular basis and have been able to deliver more squash to those in need at Urban Ministry.  Additionally, for the first time the Church has tasted our harvest.  During the past week, between deliveries to Urban Ministry, we harvested a some squash that were used by our kitchen for a group meeting at the Church    

     As you can see from the picture above, we have lettuce.  Our lettuces have come in nicely and we have peppers and tomatoes coming in as well.  Our bush bean plants are growing nicely and should be producing fruit very soon.  As our garden begins to produce more fruit, our Garden Ministry will be able to touch more lives.  

     If you would like to get involved with Mountain Chapel UMC's Garden Ministry contact Mtn. Chapel.  

God Bless

First delivery

          Today, the Mountain Chapel Garden Ministry took a small but landmark step toward making an impact for Christ's Kingdom.  Over the past several days we have been harvesting crooked neck squash from our organic raised bed garden.  We were able to harvest approximately thirty nice sized squash (about 10lbs), and delivered them to Urban Ministry, Inc., where they will go to feed the needy.  This is big day for the Garden Ministry, as we continue on our mission of providing fresh organic vegetables to those in need.  "So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow." 1 Corrinthians 3:7.


         "Urban Ministry is the inner city mission of the United Methodist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Our mission is to serve poor and low-income persons in the Birmingham area with programs of compassion and wholeness. Compassion programs address an immediate human need while wholeness programs address a long-term human need. Although Urban Ministry maintains its historic identity as a faith-based organization all of our programs are offered on a completely non-sectarian basis."  source: Urban Ministry web site 

         To learn more about Urban Ministry, Inc. check them out of the web or on their blog.


          Great job gardeners!