A community garden will soon be sprouting up in Flower Mound that will provide nutritional and spiritual nourishment to people all over Denton County.
This month, the Church of the Resurrection at 2801 Morriss Rd. in Flower Mound will turn its backyard into nine organic six-by-16-feet raised garden plots; eight of which will be available to the public.
“A community garden has been a long-desired dream for many in the Flower Mound and Highland Village area,” said Vanessa Bailey, the creator/gardener behind the food-related new church ministry project. “We are so honored to be able to bring this much-needed outreach opportunity to our community and neighbors.”
The Common Ground Community Garden, as it’s been named, is also the Eagle Scout Project for Clancy Hicks, 16, a long-time member of the sponsoring Church of the Resurrection.
The ministry plot is dedicated to two food ministries, Open Harvest Pantry in Lewisville and Breaking Bread in Denton.
Open Harvest works with the Salvation Army to provide emergency food services for those in immediate need. During the past two years, more than 12-thousand people who don’t qualify for benefits elsewhere have been helped. Breaking Bread serves those in need in the Denton area.
“I was excited about being able to help bring fresh produce to the people who come to Open Harvest and Breaking Bread,” said Hicks, a junior at Lewisville High School. “I’ve worked with both food pantries in the past, as a volunteer, through our church and knew this [Eagle Scout] project would be able to be helpful.”
This Saturday, Nov. 21, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., is the clean-up and prep workshop for the garden area. The following day, Hicks and other scouts in his troop will begin building the nine plots.
“I will be building and installing the raised beds with cedar boards and then filling them,” said Hicks. “That will be my Eagle Scout project, but I plan to continue to volunteer for both Breaking Bread and Open Harvest pantries.”
The eight public raised-garden beds, including water and the organic fill, are available to anyone in the community for a tax-deductible $100 donation to Common Ground. Those who wish to help with the planting, harvesting and delivery of the produce grown in the pantry plot are welcome, too.
Access to the Common Ground Community Garden will also be available from the town’s Purple Coneflower walking trail, where a sponsor banner will be erected.
“I grew up here and now, as a wife and mother, I am raising my children here,” said Bailey. “Yet, one thing I’ve noticed over the last 20 years is that we have lost a certain element of our ‘small town’ mindset. We’re all so busy and over scheduled; I get it. I’m running that race, too. But, Common Ground includes the dream of creating a place where neighbors can join together and be present with one another. We share the soil, we share the harvest, we share ourselves.”
For more information about the Common Ground Community Garden, visit: www.churchoftheres.com/common-ground-community-garden.
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