Community Garden

As a part of our stewardship of our property, Southminster established a community garden on the east end of our lot to be shared with our neighbors. Several churches in our Milwaukee Presbytery have such a program, as well as one in our local community.

The economic, environmental, and food quality benefits of having one's own garden are starting to be recognized across the country. Several neighbors as well as many members of our congregation were already gardening at home. But others lacked gardening space, especially any apartment dwellers in our neighborhood and our members living in condominiums.

We established twenty-nine 10' x 20' garden plots in a 50' x 150' space between our woods and Richard Street. About 50% of these gardens were planted by non-member neighbors. Those wishing to do gardening on the land submitted an application to the church and signed a liability waiver. The plots were assigned on a first come, first served basis. Church member Dave Williams and his nephew tilled the soil, and volunteers fenced in the area to discourage wildlife damage. The church provided rain gathering barrels for water. During drought times, gardeners also brought in their own water.

We are excited about this new outreach and mission project for our church. We are joining the groups of other communities that already have similar projects such as the cities of Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago.