The Garden of Eden

Recently I was asked to write an article about our ward garden.

The article and photo are going to Salt Lake to be archived. Talk about pressure!

From left to right, Deserey and McKinley Corey picking tomatoes in the garden.

The Garden of Eden

It was referred to as “The Garden of Eden,” even though the entire half-acre didn’t resemble the Garden of Eden at all. I think most of the summer the weeds nearly overshadowed the crops. If the Plain City 7th ward youth were going to name the ward garden for it’s looks, by all rights they should have named it, “The Lone and Dreary World Garden.” But they didn’t. You see, how it looked made no difference to the young men and young women who tended it with tender loving care during the summer of 2009.

How the ward garden came to be is one of those hair-brained ideas that over takes a person in the middle of the night. It was our Bishop, Judd Cook who had his sleep disturbed with dreamy eyed visions of our youth tending to plants of every kind, learning a work ethic, and serving our ward like never before. Suddenly with nothing more than the single thought of all this garden would provide, he presented it to the young men and young women leaders, we fell under the trance, miraculously a half acre appeared out of practically nowhere, (who has an empty half acre they’re just not using?) And the next thing I knew, I saw the youth all raise their arms to the square exclaiming, “We’re in.” That was it; suddenly I had my brown jersey gloves on, I was transported to 6:30 AM on an early weed day… I’m sorry, I meant weekday morning, and there I was standing in the middle of a garden bed picking Dotter off the plants.

I could write a book today on how life itself was reflected in all aspects of our garden. There were the weeds and the threat they posed to each tiny tender plant. There was the battling of the raccoon kingdom, who by the way, thought they’d take up new residency on our little piece of land. The raccoons must have spread the word to the bug kingdom, because soon we were battling those tiny pests as well. Basically it took every effort we had to keep all of these threats to our precious garden at bay. Isn’t that how life is?

Next there was the watering, fertilizing, plowing, and tending to every need the garden had. It was arduous and hard to say the least. But as all of us worked together side-by-side something wonderful grew besides plants. There was a fair share of complaining by all, but even that was fun. Then there was the giggling; laughter of every kind could always be heard in the garden and it didn’t matter if the sun was going down or just coming up, a happy spirit always rested amongst us, hovering just beneath the plants. Anything negative that threatened to hinder us was overshadowed by the relationships we were suddenly forming with the garden itself and with each other.

It wasn’t long before the whole ward got involved. We found that many hands were needed besides youthful ones to make our garden a success. The willing spirit of all the members, quorums, various entities of our ward truly made our garden feel like “The Garden of Eden.” I personally think the Bishop's blessing upon the garden when we first started brought in spirits of the noblest kind that blessed our efforts in every way.

As the summer grew hot and dry, rewards started to grow on every leafy stalk. It wasn’t long and we couldn’t keep up with the picking. The nice part was the garden provided food for everyone. The elderly in our ward who spend many a day alone got more visits and fresh produce than they’d ever seen. Young families struggling to make ends meet found lots of fresh food to serve up for dinner. Canners and stovetop cookers came out of hiding and everyone got to enjoy the fruits of our Bishop’s small and any thing but simple idea.

Last night I pulled out one last bag of frozen corn from my freezer. As I was dumping the golden yellow kernels in the pan I thought about how wise our Bishop had been the night he had his afflatus. The produce tasted good after it was heated and I took a minute to sit at my table and reflect on the last time we all met at the garden to pull the plants and till the earth under in preparation for winter, it was time to put our garden to bed. The garden had served her purpose well, and that evening as we all stood around to offer up our final prayer of gratitude just has the sun was setting, I could see in every face a sense of great accomplishment. It was then I realized, "Life began in a garden."

I don’t have time today to write about everything that was gained by this special experience, but you can imagine it, and I’m here to tell you it was all good, all of it insightful, and indescribably rewarding. In closing, all I can say is in one small summer, we gathered so much more than produce from that garden. She really grew in our hearts to be our “Garden of Eden,” beautiful and rich in all she produced and her bounty left a mark on us, one that will long bless our lives. I think that’s how it is in the gospel as well. No matter what we are striving toward, if it is good, and if we are giving it our purest efforts, no matter how infantile that might be, our Father in Heaven tenderly gives back to us His great bounty. Just like the Garden of Eden in Adams day, Our Heavenly Father was with us in our Garden of Eden as well, and that is what forever seared us in the experience. Isn’t it funny, we sought to grow a garden and instead the garden grew us!

It’s January now and recently the youth voted on what projects we want to do for 2010. Looks like your hair-brained idea was a huge success Bishop! I better get me a new pair of brown jersey gloves. Looks like I’m going to be weeding come summer! I can’t wait, we’re veterans now, just wait until you see our “Garden of Eden” this year!

Faye Crowther, Miamaid advisor in the Plain City 7th Ward 01/14/2010