Braxton Cox's Blog
A Day in the Garden with Earl / 10.14.08, 12:56 PM
During the last week of September we were walking down the street and we came upon a house that was different than every other house in our neighborhood. The sidewalk in front of this house was filled with beautiful green plants. We struck up a conversation with the man on the porch and we got to know Earl.
When he retired, Earl started a community garden. He recruited young men from the neighborhood to help him so that he could become more involved in their lives. It became a very successful operation. The boys grew lots of wonderful things and raised chickens, geese and ducks. Earl taught the boys how to turn the peppers they grew into a spectacular hot sauce that they bottled and sold to individuals and area restaurants.
Three years ago two of the boys he was working with were shot and killed and Earl found it too difficult to continue his work. He has continued to feed the animals but the garden has been taken over by weeds and he showed us the last remaining bottle of their famous hot sauce, which people are still asking for. After telling us his story he said he would love to start the garden back up again if we were willing to help.
This past Saturday, Katie, David and I went to the garden with him and started weeding. He sat us down for a good thirty minutes just to talk and share with us his life. We played with the chickens, held the geese and learned how to properly chew on sugar cane. Earl is an amazing man with an incredible story, neither of which we would have known if we had ignored God’s call on our lives.
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