Keeping the property beautiful to enhance the worship experience is one of the ways the women serve others in their faith community.
“For mulch, we use our own pine needles and leaves from our church grounds,” Maurath said. A new sprinkler system is being installed. Church members also donate flowers.
Gardens — whether landscaping that beautifies places of worship or plots for vegetables and herbs to be shared — are increasingly becoming part of church ministries.
Carolyn Fitzwilliam said the Hope Garden at Port Orange Presbyterian Church supplies from 1,000 to 2,000 pounds of produce to Halifax Urban Ministries each year, which HUM uses at the Bridge of Hope, a program that serves hot meals to 400 of the area’s neediest individuals seven days a week.
“Several of our members are involved in the Bridge of Hope,” Fitzwilliam said. “Our church members wanted to provide fresh vegetables for that program, so volunteers cleared land near the church, built infrastructure including an irrigation system and a shed to store materials, and fenced in the quarter-acre garden.”
Because of Florida’s weather, “we can garden a good eight or nine months a year,” she said. They grow tomatoes, squash, beans, onions, carrots, eggplant, radishes, collard greens and cabbage, as well as other vegetables.
Volunteers from the church and the community help. “We appreciate them all,” said Fitzwilliam, who is garden co-director with her husband, Scott, a horticulturist with a degree in nursery management.
“The Hope Garden is one of the things that drew us to the church,” she said.
First Presbyterian Church of Daytona Beach realized its vision to establish a community garden in 2010.
On a Saturday morning a group of church members were joined by folks in the surrounding neighborhood as well as others from the community in a joint effort to turn a vacant lot adjacent to the church parking area on South Grandview Avenue into a place where people could enjoy gardening in a communal setting.
Today those gardens flourish with 31 above-ground beds currently being cultivated and a few more available. Seed money from the family of Carter Cobb, given in her memory, helped launch the project, and gardeners pay a very nominal fee per growing season — two per year — that assists with the expenses.
Gardeners can come and go as they please throughout the week, but Saturday mornings are generally a time to gather and enjoy time together. The gardeners are a diverse group from a mother who grows a variety of vegetables with her third-grade daughter to a retiree living in a senior housing facility who works seven beds with plans to share her crops with fellow residents.
As the church’s website (fpcdaytona.org) says: “ … more than produce is harvested. Fellowship and pride in our community are our main crop.” More information is available from their website or the church office at 386-253-4581.
Temple Beth El in Ormond Beach has a garden created in memory of a member and teacher Clara Zahn. For years, Zahn taught the students about nature, the environment and recycling.
“When it needs maintenance, either the youth group or Sunday School class work on it,” said temple secretary Therese Cirafisi.
There is also a concrete bench in the garden in Zahn’s memory.
“When it’s nice outside, one of the coaches will take the kids out and plant flowers,” Cirafisi said.
As Port Orange Presbyterian’s Carolyn Fitzwilliam said: “We can reach out to the community and take care of those in need, use our gifts to serve others and provide fellowship for the volunteers who work in the garden.”
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