Sparks in the Soil

Interview: Craig Goodwin, Pursuer of 'Plenty'

Craig Goodwin's story has so many layers of inspiration, I hardly know where to begin. 

He's a family man who worked with his wife and two daughters to create a year of completely local food and product consumption (rewarded with a remarkable trip to Thailand at the end!). 

He's a pastor whose church instituted a farmer's market in its parking lot.

He's a community leader who is spearheading a new community garden in a formerly abandoned lot in his hometown of Spokane, Washington.

And in his office, his Master Food Preserver certificate hangs right next to his Master of Divinity diploma.  Yes, this is someone who has a story to tell about the intersection of food and faith, soil and spirituality.  Read on for Craig's inspiring Sparks in the Soil interview, visit his blog YearofPlenty.org, and check out his Pumpkin Patch Community Garden website as well.

Describe your "Year of Plenty."  Why did you name it that, and what did you learn by consuming everything local?

Going into 2008 we were feeling burned out from the crazy consumption rhythms of Christmas and started brainstorming different ways of being consumers. Out of this conversation we decided to try to live for a year consuming everything local, used, homegrown, and homemade. Surprisingly this New Year's resolution stuck and led to a great adventure of living off the beaten path, walking to work, eating seasonally, living without sugar, making out own butter, turning our lawn into a vegetable garden, and taking our whole family to Thailand at the end of the year. (We selected one international location to purchase items from during the year and made a pledge to visit it just as we committed ourselves to making field trips to the local producers of our consumer goods. We took our insurance check from our totaled minivan and used the money to buy our 4 tickets to Thailand. Living with one car was our compromise for not being able to buy local fuel.)

We chose "Year of Plenty" as the title of our blog early on, but as the year progressed it really came to fit our experience. Even though we lived without refined sugar and store bought ice cream and were even driven to eat dandelions before any local greens were available, we had a great sense of gratitude and abundance during the year.

Have you always felt a spiritual component of food and eating?  Where does that connection come from for you?

It's really been over the last five years that I've discovered a personal deep resonance between my spiritual journey and food. We bought our house here in Spokane in August. The previous homeowners, who had grown a vegetable garden, generously allowed us to harvest their hard work after to we moved in. I had never grown a plant from seed in my life, but we enjoyed the harvesting experience so much that we decided to try out the planting side of the equation when the next growing season came around. I discovered a love for gardening and growing food.

As I got into gardening I found it a great way to connect with people in the church as I get to know the people in the Presbyterian congregation I pastor.

The summer before our [Year of Plenty] experiment, our church started a farmers' market in the church parking lot, and I developed friendships with the farmers. For the first time, my food had a friendly face to go along with the taste and nutritional content. That played a key role in our commitment to eat locally and the market served as a wonderful place of connection and community building not only for the church but our neighbors as well.

More personally, I have come to see eating food and gardening and raising chickens as spiritual practices, that help me integrate my life in a world that so often divides up the sacred and secular, material and spiritual. Related to this I wrote recently on the blog:

And so my work with local food, our year long experiment, tearing out the lawn, raising chickens, etc. is, at least in part, an experiment in re-weaving faith and soil, food and spirit, earthy reality and divine truth, backyard and baptismal font.

It also relates to my experience as a pastor. I'm thinking of a friend who no longer attends church because she says she experiences God in nature. I'm thinking of the growing crowds of people who say they are spiritual but not religious. I see this as more a rejection of the false divide of the "holy and the world" than it is a rejection of God. And in some ways the church has itself to blame for this exodus. The church signed a long-term endorsement deal with modernity that looked like the deal of the century for awhile but has taken a tragic turn where people feel like they have to choose between nature and sanctuary, spirituality and a community of faith. As a pastor I am experimenting with what it looks like to lead a church that rejects this false divide and witnesses to a holistic faith. So I do the normal stuff like preach and visit the hospital and write newsletter articles, but I also manage a farmers' market and help distribute food with Second Harvest and work to establish community gardens in West Valley, and write a blog about local food.

And let me be as clear as I can, my interest in food and consumption is not some bait and switch effort to slip Jesus into people's lives, as if local food were some carrot on a stick to lead people along into the holy. The whole point is that I am learning to pay attention to real carrots, preferably local and organic, and see them as in some way holy. If I am seeking to convert people here it is a conversion to a whole life where truth and holiness are wedded to earthiness. At least that's the ongoing conversion I'm seeking in my own life.

As part of our year long experiment I became a Master Food Preserver. In my office, the Master Food Preserver Certificate is right next to my Master of Divinity certificate. They represent essential aspects of what I see God calling me to do as a pastor and person.

Do you believe that people of faith are obligated to eat healthy, sustainable food, and share it with others?  If so, why?

I believe that God has created all things and called all things good. I believe that to imagine a faith that has no interest in the health of the "all things" of God is to get caught up in a modern tragedy, where spirit and earth are divided in an attempt to keep each other safe, and as a result both are hurt.

I agree with Wendell Berry when he says;

"...perhaps the greatest disaster of human history is one that happened to or within religion: that is, the conceptual division between the holy and the world, the excerpting of the Creator from the creation...and this split in public attitudes was inevitably mirrored in the lives of individuals: A man could aspire to heaven with his mind and his heart while destroying the earth, and his fellow men, with his hands."

As a Christian, Colossians 1 is a key verse for me where Jesus is described as the one in whom all things are created and redeemed. I believe that following Jesus as Lord and Savior includes decisions we make about the food we eat and the impact of that food's life cycle on people and the land. Ironically, the key to a down-to-earth faith is a strong theology of the cosmic Christ.

Talk about the Pumpkin Patch Community Garden.  How has your congregation responded to the idea of being a lynchpin of this community garden?

We are actually right in the middle of negotiating the church's role in the garden. We had our first work day last Saturday and of the 25 volunteers, 7 or 8 are members of the church or associated with it. The rest were neighbors and other people interested in helping out. I heard two sentiments related to the church's involvement. One person expressed a desire that more "church people" had attended, while another was quite pleased that it wasn't dominated by "church people." I tend to agree with the latter assessment.

We're living in the tension of the reality that without the church's initiative the garden wouldn't be possible, but without the participation and shared vision from the community, the garden also wouldn't be possible. I think that's a good tension for the church live in.

We often express our church's mission using the words of Jeremiah 29 where he commissions God's exiled people to "seek the welfare of the city I have sent you do, and pray for it, for in its welfare you will find your own welfare." So we are prayerfully seeking the welfare of the city God has called us to, which goes beyond the welfare of our church and church members. We are seeking to be a sign and foretaste of God's justice and peace in the world. Seeing a barren, abused empty lot become a beautiful productive piece of land feels like a small fulfillment of our weekly prayer, "Your kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven."

It's worth mentioning that in that same passage Jeremiah instructs God's people to plant gardens. It's probably exegetical malpractice to connect the commission of Jeremiah to plant gardens with a church helping start a community garden, but I won't call the exegesis police if you won't.

What is the biggest benefit of church-based gardening, in your opinion--the community cohesion, restoring the land, feeding the hungry, or....?

I love the way it gets me as a pastor and our church folks out interacting with our community and neighbors. As a pastor I see the primary challenge, at least for our church, is not getting people in the church's doors, but getting the congregation out the doors into the neighborhood in meaningful and faith-filled ways.

You said that you see a divide in our culture between the material and the spiritual, and that divide is hurting the church.  Do you believe gardening might be a way to bridge the divide?

I have found that to be true in my personal life and I think the same could be said for many churches in North America. The challenge is that most churches don't have the resources within the church body to do it. Like I said above, I think it's good for churches to recognize that God is calling us to do things that require collaboration and partnership with out neighbors. We don't impose vision on the neighborhoods that surround our churches, rather we are called to share vision.

I think of the disciples who fanned out with Jesus' instructions to enter towns, live, eat, and work among the people AND proclaim the kingdom of God at hand. Because the church often doesn't truly enter the neighborhood and "eat and work" alongside, when we do proclaim the kingdom of God at hand, our neighbors often respond with indifference. They say, "Who are you to proclaim anything to me? I don't even know you. I don't share anything with you so why should I trust your words or proclamation."

For us the Farmers' Market, our monthly food distributions, and now hopefully the community garden are ways for us to work alongside and "eat" with our neighbors.

Have you had an experience where you've inspired someone to change their eating/buying habits?  If so, please describe it and share what it meant to you and the other person.

I have had many people along the way say that our journey has led them to eat local, try vegetable gardening, or get some chickens. I love that we've been an encouragement to people but we've been careful not to pretend that we're experts or that we should presume others follow our path. One of the families that we've mentored into gardening and growing food entered veggies in the County fair last year and their kids won the giant pumpkin contest. We've been trying to do that for 4 years now. The student is now the master. :)

Click here for more Sparks in the Soil interviews!  And nominate your own "Growers in the Spirit" for a future feature!

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Sparks in the News!

Faith-based gardeners are getting discovered by the media, and I was thrilled to read (and be quoted in!) this article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel last week on the expansion of a church garden we know and love around here.

The piece features friends-of-Sparks Candy Evans and Lori Robbins, who have exciting plans to expand the community vegetable garden at their United Methodist congregation in Delray Beach after a first season that yielded donations of around 300 pounds of fresh produce to a local soup kitchen. 

Religion writer Lois K. Solomon writes in the article about the church-membership benefits of gardening, especially notable in this case since it might be argued that the garden saved this particular church from having to close its doors:

The Rev. Linda Mobley, Cason pastor, believes the garden is a nonthreatening way to welcome potential new congregants. Sunday attendance has increased to 165 from about 90 this time last year.

"It's a good vehicle for our people to meet neighborhood people so everyone is comfortable," she said, "instead of walking up to a stranger and saying, 'Can I tell you about my church?'

Click here for the original Sparks interview with Candy and Lori.

And if you're hankering for more spiritual gardener interviews, click here!

Interview: Candy Evans & Lori Robbins, Faith in the Sunshine State

As we in the northeast are ramping up our growing season, they're winding down from theirs in Florida, where Candy Evans and Lori Robbins (pictured, right and below--photos by Ron Abbott) work with their United Methodist Church congregation to run "Cason Community Garden" in Delray Beach. 

With the busy season behind them, Candy and Lori shared the inspiring story of how their church fought back from a membership and budget crisis by planting a vibrant vegetable garden and, through its bounty, revitalizing the congregation as a lynchpin of a close-knit community.

How did Cason Community Garden start?

A little over a year ago, Cason United Methodist Church was a church in crisis.  Like many other churches today, we were faced with dwindling members, an unbalanced budget, and declining interest in programs and missions. Our spiritual crisis was a direct result in failing to address vital relationships between faith, work, money, stewardship, giving, and the capacity to serve its people. Thus, Cason went through a very difficult period with the real possibility of the closing of its doors.

A task force was assembled and every aspect of the church was evaluated.  One of the areas that we looked at was how could we as a church family become more outwardly focused? What missions could we create to help our community as well as increase our visibility in the city? How could we be the church that God wanted us to be? 

We looked at the assets that we had at our disposal.  The one that was the most obvious to us was the four acres of land behind the church property that had been vacant for 39 years. Didn’t we owe it to ourselves and the community to create a connection between the citizens and the limited remaining green space?   After seeing a clip on community gardening, we had a “light bulb” moment.   We knew without a doubt that this was what the church and the community needed.

After all, the beginning of all creation started in a garden.  “Eden” in Hebrew means delight.  It is with great delight we can offer this small act of love for God to use for larger purposes.

Your brochure has the line “Sowing the Seeds of Faith.” Can you share an example of when the garden has done just that?

Cason Community Garden started with two women who had a dream to keep the church alive. We knew very little about gardening and had no resources to speak of.  However, we did have everlasting faith, a will to survive, and an opportunity to make Christ known to the community of Delray Beach through the garden.  With every step in the building of the garden at Cason, doors opened and volunteers and supplies were offered!  With God’s hand we were guided through.

People in their 80’s to young children and the homeless helped till the soil, build the plots, and plant the seeds.  Food grown was donated weekly to the Caring Kitchen to assist in feeding the hungry.

How does the garden reach out to the community?

First of all, the economy is at its lowest levels in history. Families are struggling to make ends meet and put food on the table. 

Unemployment is at an all time high. Recently, there have been many reports of illnesses and even deaths associated with contaminated foods that have been grown and shipped from thousands of miles away.  Not only does this affect the safety of our food but, it also has a very negative impact on our environment creating a huge carbon footprint.  People have to rely on food manufacturers and producers for their food and its quality.  Ask a child where a carrot comes from and most likely they would point to the produce section of the grocery store. 

A garden would provide the opportunity for people to grow their own organic food free of chemicals and pesticides and work side by side with our children teaching them gardening skills, sharing stories, and also learn about the sustainability of our earth.  It also would provide a source of exercise and mental renewal.  Gardening is good for the soul!

Cason Community Garden is open to any citizen of Delray Beach.  You do not need to know how to garden and you can be of any age.  We work with a Master Gardener who teaches us about how to garden and guides us through the growing season.  The garden provides an opportunity to commune with a cross-section of people who share an interest in growing food using organic techniques. The one criterion for joining is that at least 10% of the crop yield must be donated to the Caring Kitchen in Delray Beach.  It is with great pleasure to report that over 200 pounds of produce have been donated since we started the garden, six months ago.  We have given lettuce, eggplant, cabbage, tomatoes, green peppers, collards, Swiss chard, beet greens, onions, and herbs of every variety.

How do you connect your gardening work to you faith?

Opening Cason Community Garden was a way for our church to use a resource that was sitting idle for 39 years and doing nothing but being mowed once a month to being a productive source of nourishment to those that want to get close to mother earth, learn a skill that feeds their family and the needy, work with others that are faithful and mindful of nature and the environment.  Working in the garden is hard work, but it is also rewarding and fruitful work.   Watching the seeds go in the ground, seeing the sprouts pop through the earth, and then harvesting the fruit is truly God’s work at its best.

We built a raised bed that is in the shape of a cross and it sits in the center of the garden.  It is the focal point in the garden and we are always reminded of God’s blessings and bounty.

Opening the garden was full of obstacles and challenges, but we prayed throughout the process and when one door closed, another opened. We knew that if this was the mission that God was blessing, the garden would be a success.  We are about to close our first growing season with 20 plots, and we are planning to expand next year. God has blessed us!

Hungry for more? Check out more Sparks in the Soil interviews:

Jeff Rarick, Young Man with a Vision

Stephen Bartlett, Spiritual Gardener

Terry Golson, Terrific Hen Lady

Roger Doiron, Victory Gardener

Interview: Roger Doiron, Victory Gardener

Late last week, Michelle Obama and a group of schoolkids planted spinach, lettuce, herbs, and berries in the White House's vegetable garden.  What a perfect time to publish an interview with Roger Dorion, without whom I think it's safe to say that there would be no such garden. Dorion is the force behind the group Eat the View (an offshoot of Kitchen Gardeners International), which since its launch in February 2008 gathered 100,000 signatures on a petition urging a White House garden. In that same time, countless others have been inspired to transform part of their personal lawn, city hall lawn, park, or other public space into beautiful edible landscapes.

In his Sparks in the Soil interview, Doiron shares his thoughts on the meaning of gardening, how to convince an institution (school, house of worship, government) to start a garden, and more.  Read on, and be ready to say, "Yes we can!"

What first made you think about suggesting a White House vegetable garden be planted in the first 100 days of the Obama administration?

My goal and that of Kitchen Gardeners International is to encourage more people to grow some of their own food. I decided at the beginning of 2008 that one of the best ways of doing that was to recruit a high-profile “spokesfamily” and landscape to the cause and I could dream of anything bigger or more exciting than the First Family and the First Lawn.

What gave you hope that achieving this goal was possible?

Gardeners, as you know, are optimistic people. We know that wonderful, big things can emerge from the smallest of seeds. I was also hopeful because I knew that the White House had been home to kitchen gardens in the past and that we’d be able to use the past to build a bridge to the future.

What have you learned about how institutions (government, schools, houses of worship) react to an idea like, "let's plant a vegetable garden on our lawn?"

Our culture is changing.  If you had proposed this a few years back, you probably would have received some blank stares because awareness of food, health, and environmental issues was limited to a small subset of the population.  As this knowledge becomes more mainstream and as we have more examples of groups that have done this, it becomes much easier to make the case.      

What is the first thing an interested person should say to their pastor, rabbi, or priest to convince them to plant a congregational garden?

I would start by saying that we have a moral obligation to eat and live responsibly on this planet and to make sure that all members of society have access to healthy, fresh foods.  Kitchen gardens, to me, are the best way of democratizing the local foods movement which until now has been out of reach for many members of society who can’t afford to shop in farmers markets or eat in the trendy new restaurants.

What is the most inspiring of all the gardens that your Kitchen Gardeners has seen planted?  What's the most surprising/unusual location for one?

I’ve been really inspired by gardens people are growing in cities around the world, on balconies, rooftops, and in vacant lots.  There’s a huge new garden going into the middle of the municipal complex of Flint, Michigan.  As for unusual places for a garden, there were a couple of young guys who were so inspired by the idea of replanting a garden at the White House that they bought a funky, upside-down school bus, planted a garden on top, and drove across the country and back.

Michelle Obama has been outspoken already about the virtues of eating fresh, local food.  What kind of impact has her message had so far?

She’s just getting warmed up, and she’s already having an enormous impact at home and abroad. As you know, she just recently returned from Europe.  Although the international press corps was mostly interested in her clothes, the world leaders she met were asking her questions about the garden.  I wouldn’t be surprised if see the White House garden ripple-effect, already underway in the US, ripple across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
 
What is the single piece of  White House food history that you wish more Americans knew? That the West Wing used to be a greenhouse? That Jimmy Carter tended a White House herb garden?

I’m not sure if there’s one thing in particular, but rather that the latest chapter that the Obamas are adding to the White House’s history and our country’s history is grounded in our past.

What is your idea of the perfect world--does everyone subsist entirely on their own produce?  Is every lawn turned into a garden?

No, I like wine, coffee and chocolate too much to propose that!  My vision for a healthy, delicious and sustainable world is one where we grow what we can grow, produce the food we can produce, as close to home as possible and buy-in what we can’t in a more informed and conscious way.  It doesn’t mean saying no to all imported goods, but it means spending a bit more time (and perhaps money) in choosing ones that have been produced in an environmentally and socially responsible way.  In my perfect world, millions of new healthy gardens would be planted many of them on lawns, but that doesn’t mean every lawn needs to be ripped out.  We’ve held onto some lawn (organic) in our yard because grass grows effortlessly in my naturally wet part of the world and it provides a nice playing surface for my sons.  That said, there are many other lawns that just don’t make sense and deserve a rethink.

Do you find any personal spiritual meaning in growing food, or in teaching others to do so?

I do.  I find peace and connectedness in the garden, comfort in knowing where my food comes from and joy in being able to share it with my family and others.

What's your favorite piece of produce?

I don’t have a favorite, but look forward to the different things that each season has to offer. In my garden at the moment, we’re enjoying the sweetest, tastiest parsnips you could imagine.

Grower in the Spirit Update: Jeff Rarick

You know you have a community behind you when volunteers show up on a snowy Saturday to help you clear land for a garden.  Jeff Rarick, friend of Sparks in the Soil, rallied 15 volunteers this past weekend in his hometown near Syracuse, New York to clear trees from the property he plans to turn into The Matthew 25 Farm (click here for more on Matthew 25) this summer.

Click here for a news article about the inspiring reasons people turned out to support this project.

Click here for the fascinating interview Jeff gave me about his journey back to the land.

Interview: Jeff Rarick, Young Man with a Vision

One of the first things Jeff Rarick told me when I approached him for an interview was, "I'm not looking to start a movement." 

A movement is just what he is part of, though - he's a prime example of a young Christian who is drawn to growing food for the purpose of helping the poor. 

He's not thinking small, either.  He's got the use of (and insurance for) 10 acres across the street from his church that he's set to turn over and start planting when his hometown near Syracuse, NY thaws out.  And he's got over 100 volunteers from his church and community raring to make his dream of growing food for the Salvation Army a reality.

Jeff is no clean-cut farm kid, which makes his transformation into the leader of this ambitious project all the more remarkable.  In his younger days, he was known more for repeated drunk driving incidents--including one that almost killed him--than for responsibly overseeing a $19 thousand farm budget and answering to a Board of Directors. His is an inspiring story, and I for one look forward to seeing how it unfolds as the weather turns warmer.

Meet Jeff in these highlights from our e-conversation about the Matthew 25 Farm:

How did you come up with the idea to grow food for the poor?

As the Bible says in Acts 2:17, "In the last days your young men will see visions." And I have had my share of them. One that happened often was of the future, with me feeding people with food I grew on a farm.  There were acres planted and many people stayed with me because they had no place to go.  Up until this new year, these were just dreams and visions.

With a hurting economy and a new church my parents had planted, I decided to try and start a garden for the poor.  It was sown on my heart by God, and I figured if He is for it, it will succeed.  If not, then that's life.  

I started by finding a source to give food away: the Salvation Army.  Then God put it on my heart to grow 10 acres, but I only had 2.  But my faith was increasing and I did not doubt.  So I called many, patiently.  Then, several weeks later God literally dropped a Christian in my lap that had land that he would loan me for free.  After I located the property I saw how big the miracle was-- it is hidden directly across the street from the church,  on a lovely hillside.  If it got any closer it would have bitten me in the backside!  Many more blessing have come in such as tractor loans and the such. 

Why do the farming through the church?  Why not do it as a secular agricultural project?

I am a Christian, a citizen of The Kingdom of Heaven, a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.  My mind and soul are already in Heaven.  So to do anything secular is a waste of time, but to do something here on Earth that glorifies Jesus and can show people that God is alive and tangible is certainly worthwhile.

What has been the biggest challenge in getting your project off the ground?

My biggest problem is a small lack of faith at times.  Even though I can see so much, the devil is always trying to get me (us) to doubt.  And I am faced with some opposition from fellow Christians who are...jealous?  Others try to give Godly advice, but are really only giving me their own personal opinion vs. a word the the Lord has given through them.  That is tough, especially when you love them a lot.

What do you think is the biggest misconception most people have about Christians farming and growing food?

Some think I am a socialist, others a hippie.  But I am just a Christian who is following my orders from God.  Nothing more.  I have no interest in personal fame or glory.  I am not trying to start a movement.  I'm just working with one that has been rolling for 2000+ years. 

Are you an experienced farmer/gardener?  Where does this passion come from for you?

I am not an experienced gardener.  Well, I do have a garden the size of a house that feed the family.  And I grow wine grapes too. I used to grow things that that Big Brother really frowns over, and was really good at it.  So, I suppose I do have some experience. 

And this passion is from God.  In Revelation 20:11-15, among other places, the Bible makes it clear that every human being will have to stand before God, as Judge.  Every thought, action, and word said will be looked over.  So, since I know I will be there I better do a decent job while here on Earth so I won't be ashamed then.  My past is forgiven, that's the purpose of Jesus.  So, I only need to try and do my best forever.

My Tiny Choices Survey

Thanks to Jenn over at Tiny Choices for inviting me to participate in her ongoing environmental survey.

Here is, of course, how I answered the question, "What is the one environmental Tiny Choice you would like every single person to adopt?"

"I would like every person to grow food in some form.  It can be a pot of herbs, a container-tomato garden, or a full-fledged “dig up your lawn” kind of thing.  But I think we’re never more connected than when we can walk outside and come back in again with salad.  Or a side dish.  Or a garnish.  Or dinner."

Click here to read my full survey, or to take the survey yourself.

Interview: Terry Golson, Terrific Hen Lady

Terry Golson is one terrific, dedicated hen lady.  In my short visit to her beautiful home, I observed hen-themed soaps, stickers, drinking glasses, a welcome mat, teapots, a quilt, planters, candles, salt-and-pepper shakers, and magnets - not to mention the charming felt hen pin Terry wore on her jacket. (Oh, and the two small hen houses she has out back.) This is the person to come to with any and all hen-and-egg questions.  So I asked her a few:

Tell me about your hens.
My hens are divided into two groups. The hens in the "big barn" tend to be bossy and too aggressive to get along with the small bantam hens and the more mild-mannered breeds in the other barn. Like dog breeds, breeds of chickens go beyond looks. There's also temperament. For example, Orpingtons are docile, but a tad boring. Sussex is an energetic, curious bird. It's fun to have a variety. Their breeds and personalities are on the "bios" page on my website. http://www.hencam.com/henbios.htm.

What are the differences between farm fresh eggs and commercial eggs?
Fresh eggs have a firmer texture and richer flavor. Also, the older the egg, the more it absorbs the aromas that surround it (egg shells are porous) so commercial eggs that have been sitting in cardboard cartons, in a smelly storage area, will reflect that. Another thing to know is that most commercial eggs are washed in a hot chlorine bath. Those chemicals and flavors permeate the egg - that's why sometimes eggs taste metallic. The small producer doesn't put their eggs through that. There's a chart on Mother Earth News that documents how pastured eggs have a healthier nutritional profile (just like grass-fed beef does.)

Can you tell the difference between a farm egg and a commercial egg by just looking at the shell? 
The shells look the same. However, if you get eggs from a backyard flock of differing breeds you will notice a variation in the egg size and shell color. Eggs can vary in size from 1 1/2 ounces to almost 3, and from dark brown to blue to white. Supermarket eggs are sorted and the cartons have uniform eggs in them.

How long do you advise people to keep eggs?
Eggs are edible for up to 10 or more weeks, but the best tasting eggs are under a month old. That said, hard-cooked eggs are impossible to peel if they are only a few days old. I "age" my eggs for a week in the fridge before I hard-cook them.

What should people insist on from their supermarket eggs - Cage free?  Organic?  Free range?
"Free range" and "cage free" are slightly better than the standard eggs. These chickens are housed indoors in barns and can walk around. But, they are still severely crowded and in very stressful situations. Organic chickens have slightly more room and are fed better quality feed. The best eggs are from local, "pastured" hens (the term remains unregulated, so know your grower). These are better than organic. If you don't have access to such eggs, get organic, local if possible.

How can you tell a "bad egg?"
From the outside, you can't. When you crack it, the yolk will break and spread, and the white will be very thin. This is the sign of an old egg.

Describe the happiest time you ever spent with a hen.
When the hens go to roost at night they "sing." They make these beautiful soft, chirpy, clucking sounds. I love that moment at dusk.

You told me that your keeping hens isn't overtly spiritual, but that you do feel a connection in which Judaism emphasizes the "here and now."  How do your hens keep you rooted in the here and now?
Animals do that. Their demands and their requirements are in the present moment. Hens are curious, active birds. They notice little things, like sparkly raindrops. Watch your animals and you see what they see.

How much land does someone need to keep chickens?
Very little! One should have a minimum of 3 hens - they are flock animals and need the company of their own kind. Each chicken requires a minimum of 4 square feet per bird. That's it! Of course, the more space the better. But, you can have an urban hennery - keep it clean, give your chickens fresh greens and a dry coop, and they'll be content animals.

Interview: Stephen Bartlett, Spiritual Gardener

Here's the thing about gardeners: they tell great stories.  Church gardeners, I have found, are even more gifted in this regard, and Stephen Bartlett, whose garden at his Presbyterian church in Louisville, Kentucky has become a community center, summer camp, and urban food oasis, is no exception.

I hope to visit Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church next growing season, but meantime, help yourself to some inspiration, education, and great garden stories from Stephen, a true "grower in the spirit."

Photos: (top) Stephen Bartlett surveys a "three sisters" crop planted by SAL volunteers at a farm within the Louisville city limits. (bottom) SAL volunteers take a break during a Saturday garden work party.

Please describe your church and how it came to have a garden.

Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church is an old church, but in recent years the church has been in a waxing mode (ie a waxing crescent moon), due to the active community surrounding the national headquarters of the Presbyterian Church USA in downtown Louisville and also due to the proximity of the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. 

Some of the pillars of the church were avid gardeners and believed in working the soil and being productive as part of their raison d'etre, including an old gentleman by the name of John Leake, who died at the age of 96.  He was such a committed gardener that when he died and his granddaughter moved into his house and neglected digging the old garden beds, the portraits on the walls of the old man kept getting turned askew, until the guilt of the granddaughter was piqued enough for her to get out there and plant the beans.  After that the photos on the walls stayed in their places.

When another member and I began working the soil back behind the church, we decided to name the garden after him: hence the John Leake Memorial Community Garden was born.  In 1996 or so, I proposed to the church the idea of turning a square of lawn over to a small community garden, on the far side of our parking lot beside the education building in back of the sanctuary. When another member and I came up with the name, the outcome was secured.

For the first, oh, 6 or 7 years of the garden, I was the main laborer, called to this little patch of soil due to my displacement from a 10 acre farm I had worked in the Dominican Republic. But then one year at another plot on the outskirts of the city, I grew a big plot of corn, beans, and squashes, and turned a lot of the corn into 800 tomales that were offered up with music and dancing on Sept 21, 2001 as a Tamal Festival, with the help of Mexican and Guatemalan cooks, and our organization Sustainable Agriculture of Louisville (SAL, or 'salt' in Spanish) was born. 

This group decided that what might be useful was to use the community garden for educational purposes with children.  Thus began the workshops I put on for 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classes of the nearest primary school, where my own children were students.  Highly motivated pupils were then recruited for one of the two and then four weeks of gardening day camps help in June and early July.  This past summer of 2008, another 55 or so children attended the camp, some of them for the fourth consecutive year. So the church-based community garden has taken on an important "ministry" function:  that of bringing outdoor education and work with the soil (and cooking and food processing) into the worldviews of children ages 7-14, along with daily walks and swims at a local public swimming pool.

How did you ultimately get the congregation on board?

Very few members of the church got involved in the gardening efforts for several years, even as it expanded and diversified and even after many children began coming to learn and expend their energies there.  However, as "local food production" has become more popular, and as the outreach of this garden has intensified, the church has come to feel a sense of pride and ownership of the garden and what it represents and what takes place there.  Our current pastor has been a strong supporter and has endeavored to raise up the garden as an important ministry of the church. 

On at least two Pentecosts, portions of the special offering designated for local mission have gone to help provide scholarships to the 40% of the gardening campers who are on scholarship because their families are low-income and they could not otherwise attend.  Over time issues of "weediness" or garden appearance have become less an issue, as the overall productivity and social quality of the garden as an open "community" space has taken hold. 

One of the core lessons I try to convey to children at either the workshops or the camps, is that the garden is a "commons" and any hungry person can eat there without asking permission from anyone.  The kids ask:  but who owns the garden?  God is the owner, I reply.  If you work here, every time you come you can eat.  Even if you don't work here, but you are hungry, you can eat whatever you can find.  We work here as volunteers, and God provides us this amazing delicious gift of food.  Check out these figs!!

I often give tours of the food in season to church members when they pull into the parking lot or stop by.  Many have come to learn how delicious the blackberries are, and what a fig bush looks like and how sweet the figs are.  Or how delectable fresh blueberries are on a hot June day.  Some Sundays when a big harvest is at hand, fresh peppers, garlic, spring onions, greens, tomatoes, beans, are given to people as they leave church.

You describe soil as "miraculous." Do you mean that literally?

Soil is miraculous.  Soil scientists characterize the activity of the hundreds of millions of microorganisms, the hundreds of species of arthropods and critters, not to mention the worms, etc... as "exceedingly complex."  The amount of thriving life and myriad interactions between the life in just one handful of soil is beyond the human capacity to understand. The bottom line is that life is gestated in soil, and using the nutrients there turns into plants that can nourish us.  The better the soil, the healthier and more nourishing is the food.  Soil is a wilderness beneath our feet.  Mysterious and miraculous.

Can you describe one transformation moment you've observed in a child after they attended your garden camp?

There was a girl who was from a large inner city family.  At the swimming pool we saw that she had a large scar on her belly where her liver had been operated on.  One day we were digging up some carrots from the garden and offered her one to eat.  She said she had never eaten such a vegetable and didn't know the name!  We said:  Carrot.  Try it.  We dusted it off a bit and then handed it to her.  She bit in and chewed.  We all waited.  Well? we asked.  Do you like it?  She smiled:  Yeah, I like it!

She became the chief corn grinder that week of camp, instructing others and monitoring the process of grinding and re-grinding last summer's corn into meal for the corn bread, then she wanted to be involved in the corn bread baking in a big way.