COMMUNITY GARDEN WORK DAY:  Please join us at House of Prayer on Friday, September 13^th.  Beginning at 9:00 a.m. we will work to clean up the garden beds and tend to the retaining wall along the south side of the church grounds.  Bring gloves, a water bottle, and any yard tools you like to use.   MANY HANDS WILL MAKE LIGHT WORK!  Thanks in advance for your support of this year’s community mission garden.  We continue to make weekly donations and will report our total contributions.  Meanwhile, last year SHIP-supported gardens donated over 1 ton of produce to VEAP, so they thought it would be fun to involve the community in a game to guess the weight of produce donations to VEAP this year. The goal is to increase the availability of healthy foods in the community – especially for people with limited resources.

Join the fun in the Growing to Give Guessing Game

Greetings!

SHIP is conducting a fun, guessing game that is good for the community! Please join the fun and share this information with your folks. The online game, with prizes, is open to people of all ages living or working in Bloomington, Edina and Richfield, and it runs from August 1 to October 15, 2013. Share this information in whatever way works best for you; flyers are attached if you would like to use them.

How many pounds of garden donations do YOU think the VEAP food shelf will receive? Make your guess here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/growingtogive

More game information here: http://www.ci.bloomington.mn.us/cityhall/dept/commserv/publheal/ship/events/2013shipevents/growing_to_give.htm  

Growing in Grace

The House of Prayer Community Mission Garden has been donating nearly 30 pounds of fresh produce each week to the VEAP garden gleaning program.  Tomatoes, celery stalks, zucchini, cabbage heads and cucumbers are making their way to the tables of our needy neighbors.  We have been so richly blessed with abundant sunshine and perfect growing conditions.  We will be sharing a garden work day with our gardening friends from Taking Steps Together.  They have been tending one of the garden beds with kids from the apartment complex and helping them learn about where their food comes from.  They are excited to share a recipe and meal with us when they use our blossoms from the squash plants to make callabassa quesadillas.  Yum!   

 

We have also discovered a new herb that is commonly referred to as a pesky weed.  Purslane is a nutrient-rich ground cover that can be used in many ways such as a salad garnish or a pesto sauce.  Go to this website for more information on this hardy “weed” that you can actually use for something good!  http://www.culinarymusings.com/2008/06/purslane-not-a-weed-but-a-wonder/

 

Growing in Grace! 

Kim Houle

Celebrating EARTH DAY 2013 by doing God's Work with Our Hands

 Earth Day 2013 was celebrated at House of Prayer Lutheran Church on Sunday April 21st, 2013. The community garden team hosted an event in parish hall that invited young and old to take home materials and terrariums to start for this year's community mission garden.

Several families will be nurturing their young seedlings and returning them to plant in the garden when the weather is more accomodating.

We certainly are looking forward to that day coming soon!!

We unveiled our new outdoor banners and will be displaying them so that our neighbors know who we are and what we are doing in their neighborhood.

Youth were given a selection of terrariums (cucumber, tomato, sunflower, pink cosmos)

"We will be good stewards of all God's Creation!"

Steve Pierson shared his "grow light" set up with the visitors. 

Several seedlings found new homes as well. 

Jack and Jamie were very eager to help distribute coloring pages, terrariums,

and instructions with others.

Door prizes were great!

Maria Zavala (l) and Maria Regan-Gonzalez (r) share information with visitors about

Taking Steps Together, the Family Partnership project to end childhood obesity. 

 

The leadership development students will be using a section of the community garden to teach young people about healthy foods and outdoor activities.

 

 

 

We are hopeful that the weather will warm up and we can begin to work the soil and prepare it for the growing season.  Thanks for your ongoing support and interest.