ThisWeek CW 05/17/2012
Since Gender Road Christian Church opened its doors in 1999, its congregation has been making plans for a community garden.
This summer, those plans have finally blossomed.
The city of Canal Winchester’s community garden was one of many inspirations for the church, the Rev. Kay McGlinchey said, and its success helped to move the church’s garden plans forward.
“I’ve visited several community gardens and talked with the folks behind the Canal Winchester community garden and they said they didn’t have enough plots,” said McGlin-chey, the church’s minister of nurture. “Their setup is very similar to ours, so they said if we went ahead, they’d send their overage to us.”
The church at 5336 Gender Road has nearly 13 acres of land, said McGlinchey. Plots are available in three different sizes: 10 by 20 feet for $20 a plot; and 10 by 10 and 10 by 6 feet, both for $10.
Reservations for plots currently are being accepted at the website genderroadcc.com.
“Our senior pastor (John Romig) will be plowing up the ground and getting it ready for gardens,” McGlinchey said. “We feel that sharing this land that God provided us is a way of God’s work being done.”
There will be both a teaching and service component associated with the community garden, she said.
“We have a daycare here that we’re going to encourage to use this as a teaching tool, as well as with our Cub Scout group that meets here,” McGlinchey said. “We hope that people who can afford to will donate part or all of their produce to the Community Food Pantry as well, and we invite groups to take advantage of our space to do this, too, to support the pantry.”
The church hopes to have plots ready for planting by May 24; however, there is no water supply for the gardens.
“Gardeners will have to bring their own water. We do have a stream that they may be able to collect water from, though, and we’ll have a compost pile,” McGlinchey said.
The gardens will be available through Oct. 1, by which time gardeners are expected to clean up their plots.
“The garden was in our original plans and we’ve been talking much more about it over the past three years,” McGlinchey said. “With the economy as it is and interest in (gardens), we felt it was needed now.
“This is a mission project for us, to give people the chance to grow their own food and control the way it is grown.”