Community Gardens

Next week I have a meeting at my church, Francis Burns UMC, that I'm super excited about.  Our health ministry (HEALS) is seeking to start a church community garden.  A community garden is a collective effort by a group of people to provide fresh produce and plants on a single piece of land. It'll benefit the neighborhood residents and church members.  Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Strawberries.....veggies and fruits galore!!  For those that don't know, Rhonda and I eat (or juice) veggies and fruits and it constitutes 80% of our daily food intake. If you only knew what our grocery bill looked like and how frequent we went, you'll see why I'm grinning from ear to ear.  Take a look below as to what a community garden looks like.

Photo Credit via visualizenashua.com

What does this have to do with Take A Leap?? Everything if you ask me.  You see over the last few weeks, if you remember from a previous post, I've been searching for legitimate travel volunteer/mission projects.  Travel with a purpose right?  There are so many options, but the expenses are like...whoa!!  The only two that I came across that I could #1- afford and #2- enjoy were identified as the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) and Workaway.  Both provide opportunities to volunteer and have your meals and accommodations covered by putting in a little work in a family's garden; teaching children; or a host of other creative and/or labor intensive volunteering projects.  The experience from our local church community garden will not only give us a green thumb, but also a learning experience that we can take with us to Africa, Europe, or South America from a period of a few days to several months, at minimal costs and an experience like no other.

Photo Credit via weber.edu

Have you participated in a community garden project in your city or town?  Have you traveled with either of the organizations noted above? If so, where to and what did you do??

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