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Community Garden Purpose

To provide fresh, healthy produce to those in our neighboring
communities who might otherwise go without.

2011 Harvest Celebration

Harvest and Workdays

The total harvest on just the day of August 27th weighed in at 700+ lbs.  Now that’s a harvest!

We have been abundantly blessed with wonderful production from the SOLID ROCK garden.  We are pleased that many families throughout our neighborhoods and those who go to the Salvation Army food bank are being blessed with the produce from the garden.

We would love to have you join us as we continue through this great harvest season.  There is just something very special about spending time in the garden and knowing that so many people will enjoy having fresh, healthy vegetables for their families. It is a true blessing to be working in this garden ministry.

There are three workdays coming up in September and October. Saturdays, September 3rd and 10th, and Saturday October 1st are the scheduled workdays. We will work from 9:00-3:00. Come for as long or as short as you are able. We will be joined by the Ada County Community Service work crew, friends from our surrounding community, and many from our church family.  We hope YOU can join us for one or more of these workdays.

 

2011 07 16 Garden Workday
2011 07 16 Garden Workday

There are so many good things going on in the Solid Rock Community Garden! Planting, weeding, harvesting, and much more. Check out the pictures from out most recent workday.

62 Photos

2011 05 07 Garden Workday
2011 05 07 Garden Workday

Wood moved, newspaper and mulch laid, and a lot more fun!

41 Photos

Wednesday, March 30

This past Saturday, March 26th, was another special day at Solid Rock.  By now you all are pretty familiar with what we are working to accomplish with the Castle Hills garden ministry.  Our goal or mission is to provide fresh, healthy vegetables for those in our neighboring community who might otherwise go without.  It’s as straight forward as that and that is exactly what we aim to do.

When you start with a 1/2 acre piece of ground which has not been gardened before, there is much work to do before you ever put the first plant or seed in the ground.  Here’s a quick look at some of the projects that have been completed since last November:

  • Plowed the 1/2 acre plot
  • Worked it with a cultivator to raise rocks (we were very successful)
  • Removed approximately 13 ton of river rock from the garden
  • Began to form the planting beds
  • Established a large compost yard area on our neighbor’s property.  Thank you Andre!  We had to fence off the compost area so Andre’s horses, sheep, and goats won’t mosey onto the compost.
  • Two weeks ago we started the installation of the irrigation system.  This is one of our biggest funding challenges as we work toward having our final drip line system completed.  It really is spectacular to watch as prayers are answered and this work gets completed.
  • This past Saturday, we continued the irrigation work, enclosed the entire garden with fencing, and poured the foundation for the new shed.

When we stop and look at each of these projects, we begin to realize how much work has been done.  We’ve had four workdays at Solid Rock with anywhere from 50 – 70 workers at each.  This comes to about 1400 people hours of work.  That’s a lot of work in a pretty short period of time.  We got started in late November and here we are now at the end of March.  From just flat ground to a garden that is ready to receive seeds and starter plants.  WOW!

There have been many people involved in this effort.  Most of our church family has been involved in some way.  Our neighbor Andre has been a wonderful partner as we developed the compost yard on his property. Kyle, of Rockrose Irrigation, has made a HUGE difference for us as he directs the effort to complete the irrigation system. One of the most important contributions to date has been the complete support of the church staff.  Pastors Joy and Ryan and the church board have all been very clear about their support and vision for this ministry.  We all appreciate that commitment.

So, we deserve to take a big deep breath and get ready now for all the “real” gardening tasks ahead.  You know . . .

  • Choose the veggies that we want to plant
  • Acquire all the seeds and starter plants
  • Do the actual planting
  • Build and install trellises for all the veggies that we hope will “grow up” some day.
  • Continue to move rocks and stones off the garden
  • Weed . . . yes, I imagine we’ll have a few

Let the “gardening” begin!

Spring is just around the corner and we all will be looking forward to spending more fun time out doors.  If you have the chance, we’d really enjoy having you come spend some of your outdoor time with us in the garden.  If you have any questions or suggestions about our garden, please don’t hesitate to send them to us.

This is a ministry in motion and we’d love to have you along for the trip.

Blessings to you all and we’ll see you in the garden.

2011 03 26 Garden Workday
2011 03 26 Garden Workday

More work on preparing beds, irrigation lines, fencing, future shed, lots of good work!

104 Photos

2011 01 29 Garden Workday
2011 01 29 Garden Workday

It was another great workday in the garden! Another group of community service workers teamed up with Castle Hills to do some major post-winter work.

87 Photos

2010 11 20 Garden Workday
2010 11 20 Garden Workday

Some pictures of the first Solid Rock Garden Ministry workday. Castle Hills people and community service workers all working together to get the rocks out and get the garden ready for the winter.

88 Photos