Jeff Delp's Blog
My passions meet the City / 04.30.09, 10:06 AM
5:55 am. The alarm goes off. I haven’t set the alarm this early for work since my produce days at the supermarket! Ah, but this morning was a special morning. The Kimpson Park Community Garden in South Atlanta was finally getting off the ground, or maybe going in the ground is a better way of stating it! It was my job to go out and stake off the plots for our first volunteer group to come and help dig them out.
I am a morning person, so the idea of getting out and working the land while the sun comes up and the birds are singing is special to me. This time is a good time for me to connect with God. It is just a little different when you are doing that in middle of the city!! Who says you can’t farm in an urban neighborhood? It just helps to have the sun get your back (if you get the pun! I waited until about 6:20 to go out because it was still dark!).
A group of people in our community have gotten together to start a community garden in order to accomplish a few things: 1) provide fresh produce for our families and neighbors and 2) to help build relationships with neighbors . Both are equally important, and equally exciting. I have already met several people on the block that I did not know just by being out in the garden for less than 1 hour.
This has been a project that has been really exciting for me, and reminded me of the importance of passion! You have to be pretty passionate about something to get up before 6 am with a 3 month old and 2 year old, a time with sleep is seen as a most precious commodity. I have lived in my neighborhood for 8 years now, and feel really plugged in to stuff and really connected to the people and things that are happening in the neighborhood. However, I have never really found my thing, my niche. I think I have found that now. When I moved to the city, I knew I loved the outdoors. As I have lived here, I have grown to appreciate gardening. Now, I get the opportunity to share those passions with those that live closest to me, and that is extremely exciting.
Continuously I am amazed about how God uses our passions if we are open to His direction. When I moved to South Atlanta, I never would have imagined I would be starting a community garden, and yet, that is exactly what God has placed in front of me. And the beauty of it is that it has merged all of the things that I love about my neighborhood/life in South Atlanta: outdoors, gardening, community, walkability, and relationships.
My prayer as we move forward is that the garden will be a place for all of those in our neighborhood: young and old, rich and poor, white and black. We have a great community of people in our neighborhood, and I pray that garden can be a tool that is used to improve that community of people.
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Have you planted any collard greens, yet? :-)
That’s awesome, Jeff. You know I love gardening, too. I have a small urban garden in the back yard, but I envy the opportunity you have to garden with your community. I’m still working on a plot of my (our) own. Have blessed joy in “feeding the multitudes”.
Much Love,
BB
By Brother Bell / Apr 30, 10:35 PM / #
Ok ok ok…so what does one have to do to get involved with this garden?? (besides moving to Atlanta, of course…which is going to be checked off the list) So exciting to hear about his Jeff! Glad you have found your niche.
By Pharis / May 6, 02:59 PM / #
Your community garden is very exciting to hear about! There’s something awesome about gardens. All the different types of vegetables and plants growing together in their own sort of community. Diverse and beautiful! And they are better paired together than seperate. They create wonderful flavors when they are braught together, delicious and nourishing to the body. A garden is a wonderful example of community and diversity! It is very exciting!
By Dwayne / Aug 14, 08:36 AM / #