GARDEN MINISTRY SOD-BITS - May 2, 2010

GARDEN MINISTRY SOD-BITS

The 9th year of our Garden Ministry has officially begun. I will prepare these "Sod-bits" throughout the gardening season as a means to apprise church members of what is going on in the gardens.

We are gardening 3 plots this year; the Mt. Joy plot (3/4 of an acre located near the Mt. Joy exit off of Highway 61 across from the BSA soccer fields and just north of the Valley Turf John Deere implement dealership), a new plot (about 1/2 acre) donated for our use by the Grace Evangelical Free Church located just north of the intersection of 53rd Street and Eastern Avenue, and a small plot on Rock Island Arsenal. The garden site we have gardened on Wisconsin Avenue in prior years is no longer available.

Our two large plots have been wonderfully prepared for planting through the efforts of Tony Knobbe (plowing and disking) and Frank Dolmen (powertilling).

Much effort has been expended over the last couple of weeks planting over 500 lbs. of seed potatoes and over 26,000 onion plants. Again, God blessed our Ministry by holding off the rain until we finished this planting.

Bill Cameron has graciously agreed to serve as the Ministry's Recruiting Coordinator. He has been busy making presentations to various service organizations in the area (Rotary and Optimist Clubs), area churches, and Pleasant Valley/Bettendorf high schools to recruit garden volunteers. His efforts have already been very successful as we have had a good number of volunteers involved in the planting of the potatoes and onions; e.g., 19 volunteers assisted in the planting of onions last Wednesday evening.

Mark Christoffersen will be the Site Coordinator for the Mt. Joy plot (phone no. 344-9338) and I will be the Site Coordinator for the new plot at 53rd and Eastern (to be referred to as the "Grace plot") and the Rock Island plot. (phone no. 340-6594).

With the additional garden space and additional volunteers, we are really excited about this gardening season. We pray that God will continue to bless our Ministry as we answer his call stated in Isaiah 58:10 "Feed my hungry".

Dave Phillips
Garden Ministry Coordinator