A Look Back at the History of the Carpenter Garden:

• Tom Venman started the first MPS school garden at Chipp back in 1996.  It was a schoolwide effort and very, very successful.  They even grew pumpkins to sell in the fall and lots of learning across the curriculum took place.
• Tom moved to Carpenter when Chipp closed.  He worked with MPS and raised funds to begin the current garden in 2011.  Different grades helped with different tasks and the garden became another way for kids to experience the importance and beauty of growing, tending, and harvesting plants.
• When Tom retired from Carpenter, he volunteered to keep the garden going.  When Carpenter closed as a regular K-5 building, FUMC stepped in with funding and volunteers to plant, tend, and harvest.  Tom’s leadership goes back almost 30 years!
• FUMC’s Step Ministry team is now completely responsible for the garden.  We are a ministry team that assesses and responds to needs in our immediate church neighborhood.  More specifically, within the boundaries of Central Park Elementary.  (We also have a vibrant collaboration with Maple Grove Manufactured Home Community in the former Longview area.  This includes a city park that we have adopted next to the trailer community.  ANOTHER STORY??!!)
• Carpenter Garden is truly for the neighbors and folks are invited to pick as soon as crops are ready.  If we have extra produce that remains in the garden, we set it out on a “Help Yourself” cart along the Larkin sidewalk at church.  We also set it out on Sundays during Friendship Lunch, the meal that we serve each week.  We have found that people of all ages really enjoy garden fresh produce and flowers.
• Being in the Carpenter Garden provides lots of opportunities to chat with neighbors.  People come by on foot, bikes, and by car.  Almost every day/evening, kids are playing on the school playground and they come over to see what’s ready to pick and to ask lots of wise questions.
• Our team gets together for Weed and Water Wednesdays each week.  It is a valuable time of fellowship and shared work!
• MPS has always been VERY supportive of FUMC’s garden on their property.  We have expanded over the years, recently adding multiple raised beds of flowers and growing more produce outside the fence line of the garden.  We are grateful for this partnership with MPS!  In the late fall, the Carpenter Young Fivers help tear down the remaining plants, which is great fun for them and helpful for our team.
• We have a second community garden, located right at church along Fitzhugh.  We have expanded this summer and all those plants are grown in raised beds.  Most of those flowers/veggies go on the “Help Yourself” cart and are given at Friendship Lunch.  We also place shelf stable veggies in our Blessing Box, which neighbors can access 24/7.
• FUMC is committed to loving and supporting our neighbors.  The Carpenter (and FUMC) Gardens are a really tangible way to live that out.  Many have commented that they feel close to God when they’re among the growing and changing plants.  Having our hands in the soil often feels holy.  Connecting with kids and adults in this shared space has become more common over the past couple of years and the Garden feels like a Sanctuary in that way.