Thanks for the opportunity to talk about Harvest Stewards, a project that I have come to think of as my personal mission.
I have been a gardener for about a dozen years. Any of you that have a garden or know of someone that has a garden have probably heard someone say -or maybe you've said some version of it yourself- "I have so many zucchini, I just don't know what to do with'em all!". Or maybe instead of zucchini, it was beans or tomatoes or cucumbers or some other thing. The idea, in any case, is that even in the small garden plots that folks keep in their back yards, there is often surplus. And in the last few years, the, "and I just don't know what to do with'em all" part of that refrain has hung heavy in my ears. And I can't pinpoint the exact instant when the connection was made in my mind to the 25th chapter of the book of Matthew, but it was; and therein lay the seed of a plan to get more people more involved in the ministry of feeding hungry folks in our area. Let me refresh our memory about that 25th chapter of Matthew...
In that chapter, Jesus tells a parable about the ten virgins and their oil lamps, then the parable about the talents, and the chapter is closed out with a brief exposition of the Final Judgment. I should like to point out that in one way or another, each of these three sections is in one way or another, about stewardship, about using one's God-given resources for the Kingdom of God. In particular, in those closing passages of the chapter, Jesus commends the righteous for, among other things, feeding Him when He was hungry. They then say, "but... we don't remember ever feeding you..." And as we all recall, Jesus says, "ah, but whenever you fed the hungry, you fed me; whatever you did to the least of these, you did to me". And so, in March of 2010, it dawned on me that I do know what to do with all that surplus produce, and I incorporated Harvest Stewards as a non-profit LLC - the idea behind it being so utterly simple: grow food and give it away.
So: last year I started a small garden at my church in Latonia, Kentucky, and I set aside some space at home for growing food that I would give away. In all, we're talking about approximately 170 square feet of garden space under cultivation.
Now, one may say, wouldn't it be better to have Kroger or Castellini or some well-landed farmers donate from their ample supplies? Yeah, it would be better, I suppose. But remember the parable of the talents: the master gets after that one-talent servant; he doesn't fault him for not managing the talents of the 5- or 2-talent servants. He says, "good grief, man, you couldn't even be bothered to deposit the money in a simple interest-bearing account? Get out of here, you're fired" The point the parable makes is that each of us is accountable for our own stewardship, not that of anyone else, corporate or individual.
So: last year's gardens yielded 156 pounds of produce, mostly cucumbers, squash, corn, beans and tomatoes. All of this went to Action Ministries and Fairhaven Rescue Mission, both in Northern Kentucky.
This year I'm using the same garden at my church in Latonia, and I've set aside a little more space at home for growing donation produce. A new thing I'm trying this year is a plan I call "drop off and top off", whereby I drop off a specially designed grow box (essentially a large pot with a water reservoir on the bottom) with a willing participant, whose only responsibility is to top off the water, to make sure that the grow box doesn't run dry, and then take the produce to a local food ministry. My friend Chris, who by the way, lives right here in Mason, does not have a green thumb at all, but he's had great success with the "drop off and top off" scheme. In the seasons to come, we'll be seeking out more and more stewards who want to help feed hungry folks -no green thumb necessary! I've put some of my calling cards where you can find them; I'd love to be in touch with anyone who is interested in Harvest Stewards.
Many thanks to Pastor Bill Mountsier for the chance to speak to the folks at FBC Mason. I was pleased to hear from several folks afterwards that they would begin donating produce and some even talked about starting a garden at the church.
