![\"2013-07-15](\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2013-07-15-08.09.35-e1428272816293.jpg\")
<\/a>As Christians, we find we are taught to plant ourselves in the faith and grow in the fruit of the spirit. \u00a0Throughout his ministry, Jesus used seeds, plants, vines, and sowers as metaphors to teach us the lessons of the kingdom.\u00a0 When a member of our congregation came to me to share her vision and passion for a community garden, it was clear that a garden finding home, in a community of faith, was a natural fit.\u00a0 Yet, I knew it would take a great deal of support and commitment from the greater community to achieve such a task.<\/p>\nI have to admit that I had my doubts and concerns over our ability to achieve the vision brought forth. \u00a0I can remember the day \u201cMama Root\u201d went out and put her stake in the ground; I knew something big was going to happen.\u00a0 Today the space has doubled in size and engages our church and the greater community in tending to creation.\u00a0 Perhaps the greatest gift of the first fruits garden is the relationships that have been established with local food pantries and the opportunity for folks to partake of vegetables that have been grown with great care and love.<\/p>\n
I invite you to take some time to consider how God is calling you to share in the transformation of the world through the gift of a garden.\u00a0 In this website you will find resources and story of our church community and how a simple plot of land became a garden of faith, hope, and love.<\/p>\n
Carolyn<\/p>\n
Rev. Dr. Carolyn Scanlan Holmes is Sr. Pastor of Avon Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, in Indiana, United States of America.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Friends, As Christians, we find we are taught to plant ourselves in the faith and grow in the fruit of the spirit. \u00a0Throughout his ministry, Jesus used seeds, plants, vines, and sowers as metaphors to teach us the lessons of the kingdom.\u00a0 When a member of our congregation came to me to share her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":393,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/CarolynsLetter-e1438893543843.jpeg?fit=225%2C300","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p60iPd-42","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":498,"url":"http:\/\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/?p=498","url_meta":{"origin":250,"position":0},"title":"Welcome","author":"Beth Harlin","date":"January 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"First Fruits Garden (FFG) is an outreach program originating from Avon Christian Church, and is designed to encourage community gardens to grow, produce, and cultivate a sharing spirit. The FFG model encourages garden growers to donate 10 percent of their produce to local food pantries, in reference to the idea\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"MamaRootHalf_sign","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/MamaRootHalf_sign-300x202.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":88,"url":"http:\/\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/?p=88","url_meta":{"origin":250,"position":1},"title":"About Us","author":"Mama Root","date":"April 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"First Fruits Garden (FFG) is an outreach program originating from Avon Christian Church, and is designed to encourage community gardens to grow, produce, and cultivate a sharing spirit. The FFG model encourages garden growers to donate 10 percent of their produce to local food pantries, in reference to the idea\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "About Us"","block_context":{"text":"About Us","link":"http:\/\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Iris5.jpg?fit=533%2C400&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Iris5.jpg?fit=533%2C400&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Iris5.jpg?fit=533%2C400&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":246,"url":"http:\/\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/?p=246","url_meta":{"origin":250,"position":2},"title":"About Us","author":"Beth Harlin","date":"July 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"First Fruits Garden (FFG) is an outreach program originating from Avon Christian Church, and is designed to encourage community gardens to grow, produce, and cultivate a sharing spirit. The FFG model encourages garden growers to donate 10 percent of their produce to local food pantries, in reference to the idea\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"About Us","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/About-Us-e1438893294685.jpeg?fit=533%2C400&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/About-Us-e1438893294685.jpeg?fit=533%2C400&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/About-Us-e1438893294685.jpeg?fit=533%2C400&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":336,"url":"http:\/\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/?p=336","url_meta":{"origin":250,"position":3},"title":"Cooking","author":"Beth Harlin","date":"July 30, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Growing your own community garden means that you get to plant your own food. You get to\u00a0select what fruits and vegetables you are going to eat. It is so important to \"eat healthy\" in this processed food society-- and the healthiest foods can come straight from your community garden! Let's\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Lettuce.jpg?fit=320%2C240&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":412,"url":"http:\/\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/?p=412","url_meta":{"origin":250,"position":4},"title":"Garden Story","author":"Beth Harlin","date":"August 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Have you created your own garden within your community? Or maybe in your own background? Share your Garden Story! \u00a0","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":85,"url":"http:\/\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/?p=85","url_meta":{"origin":250,"position":5},"title":"Community Cookbook","author":"Mama Root","date":"April 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Submitted by the local community members Search by Subject, or by Garden Vegetable New recipes are listed on the right \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Click here\u00a0to submit one of your recipes! \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Recipes"","block_context":{"text":"Recipes","link":"http:\/\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Lettuce.jpg?fit=320%2C240&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=250"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":251,"href":"http:\/\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions\/251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/firstfruitsgarden.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}