Fellowship Around the Table
Great conversations about life, faith, and the Bible from Fellowship Bible Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma (www.fbctulsa.org).
Fellowship Around the Table
From Dirt to Fellowship: FBC's Community Garden w/ Monica Reed and Jim Bruns (Part 1 of 2)
Have you ever wondered how a patch of dirt can transform a community? This week, Monica Reed and Jim Bruns from the Fellowship Garden Ministry sat at our table to share the incredible journey of turning a field at FBC into a vibrant community. They weave tales of how this garden serves as a catalyst for growth—not just for the plants, but for the relationships and faith that flourish within it. Engaging non-believers and church members alike, Monica and Jim reveal how this ministry is sowing seeds of connection and outreach, with heartwarming anecdotes of gardening as a spiritual practice.
The Fellowship Garden is an outreach program designed to grow relationships in our community by providing gardening space, education, and produce.
Our Purpose: To grow relationships with others in the community by Sowing seeds of faith, Tending to the needs of others, Extending to all in our community and Meditating on God's works.
Our Objective: To grow and give.
https://www.fbctulsa.org/garden
Questions? fellowshipgarden@fbctulsa.org
You are listening to Fellowship Around the Table.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to Fellowship Around the Table, where we endeavor to have great conversations about life, faith and the Bible. I am your host today, heath Casey, and today Around the Table I have Monica Reed and Jim Brenz. Welcome.
Speaker 1:Hello, good morning.
Speaker 2:You all are here, dug in and ready to grow up something special we are.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. I love it.
Speaker 2:These two are leaders in our Fellowship Garden Ministry and are currently leading the Fellowship Garden Spring Impact Class and I wanted them to come in and tell us all the Fellowship Garden Spring Impact Class. And I wanted them to come in and tell us all about Fellowship Garden.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's something that we're both very passionate about. It's been an amazing ministry. It's fairly new to FBC. This started in 2021. I think everything got going the idea of it and the concept and the team building and leadership getting together and figuring out what we wanted to do, and the plans made and excavation and all of that good stuff. So it's been an amazing journey.
Speaker 3:It has Talk about kind of the purpose of the ministry and how did it get started to grow relationships with others in the community and the church, sowing seeds of faith, tending to the needs of others, extending out to the community and meditating on God's work. What we try to do is reach out to some of the neighborhoods around the church to get the people involved. I think that's something we're going to concentrate a little bit more, try to concentrate a little bit more on going forward. It's just a little bit hard to do to try to get those people to come in.
Speaker 2:But it is a community garden in that sense right For sure yeah absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1:Yes, and it's kind of an easy in for people who aren't members of FBC or even believers. It's been really cool to see God work, and each year we kind of build and expand a little bit like ways to connect with the community.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And different things we're doing, different outreaches.
Speaker 2:For folks that might not just immediately walk into an actual church building. There's a garden on campus Right.
Speaker 1:And who doesn't love gardening?
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:It all started in a garden. It all started in a garden.
Speaker 3:That's right. We're also this year excited to have some students, I guess from International Student Ministry and also from TCC, helping, is that right? On Saturday mornings?
Speaker 1:yeah, okay, yeah, so that's been one of our new outreaches. Tcc has a program where their students have to volunteer and get so many community service hours. So the amazing Sue Haslett has figured out how to connect with TCC and get on their community board so that people see, oh, you can volunteer at the community garden, fellowship garden, saturdays from 10 to noon and then they get their service hours and each week that she's done that we've had at least two to three students.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's been amazing.
Speaker 1:And some of these kids had a garden background or some don't know anything, and we're like, hey, this is a strawberry, or hey this is what lettuce looks like.
Speaker 2:And it's amazing.
Speaker 1:They're like oh wow, this is really cool and we've had them come back each week and it's just been really cool getting Talk about the actual garden and kind of where it is today.
Speaker 2:But like, where did it start this idea? We had this big field.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And that for years as me, as an elder, I know we were praying we felt like it was underutilized and it had stickers or what. Oh those?
Speaker 1:are the worst. What are those Sandburgers? Sandburgers, yes.
Speaker 2:And we wanted to see it used more and I don't think we had a specific idea. I know some people used it for sports practice and you approached us about a garden.
Speaker 1:Yes. So you know, it's kind of like one of those times in your life when you just feel like the Holy Spirit's putting something on your heart and it won't go away and you just keep praying about it and then you casually mention it to a friend while you're working at the churchyard planting flowers. In this case it was Lauren Bryan.
Speaker 1:And then we were like you know, do you think the church would ever do a community garden? She's like, I don't know. That sounds like a great idea. And Lauren Bryan knows everybody right, she's amazing, such a connector. And she's like do you know, sue Haslett and Jim Bruns? They're master gardeners, let's call them. And then we had several other people that are just so knowledgeable, so we formed like a. Well, first of all, we prayed about it for a while and we had no zero less than zero idea what to do.
Speaker 2:He had no zero, less than zero idea what to do.
Speaker 1:So we actually connected with Brenda Nichols, who is head over at Abiding Harvest Community Garden.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:They are in Broken Arrow and I formed an amazing friendship with her and I just adore her. She was so kind and allowed us to come out there and look at the garden, barrage her with questions about everything from how do you get volunteers? How do you start? What do you do about weed control?
Speaker 2:How do?
Speaker 1:you budget. How do you get all the plants to even grow? We had a base knowledge for gardening.
Speaker 2:I mean, I grew up my parents had a giant garden and they allowed me to work in it every weekend, which I'm very grateful for now. We had a big garden growing up living in the country and I remember I don't know, I think it was potatoes, for some reason I did not enjoy that and the harvesting of that. And I remember going to Walmart when I was a kid after we had dug up all these potatoes and I saw the price of potatoes and I was like what are we doing? But now here I'm older and I'm growing potatoes in my backyard, exactly.
Speaker 1:And they taste so much better, so cool, yes, so yeah. So we talked about it and then we kind of formed like a leadership team and we just started brainstorming. And then at the same time Dan Alaback was doing kind of an overall comprehensive plan for the church and I weaseled my way to Dan and begged him to consider the garden and doing a plan for that. So that was just huge and such a blessing. I mean. You know, I'm thinking dig a hole and plant some stuff, while you know Dan brought us his plan.
Speaker 2:I'm like he's so good. Oh, my word.
Speaker 1:He's so talented and it was just I'm very visual, so being able to see that and you know it was overwhelming. I think when we all saw the plan, we're like you want us to do what?
Speaker 2:What are we going to do with that much? Yes, exactly. I remember the first time I saw it I was like whoa, it's beautiful, absolutely so.
Speaker 1:It kind of grew from there, you know, and then we figure out a name, and then you figure out your objective and purpose and and the why behind it all and and really it the root of the garden yeah, I know sorry is to love on people and build the relationships. The vegetables and providing for people is amazing but honestly that's secondary to getting stuff together is phenomenal in building relationships, a physical activity For sure.
Speaker 3:It's really powerful yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So we were fortunate enough to have the church Give us the land that's right. But I mean it's a quarter acre, I mean it's a lot of land and they put the fence around it and graded it. Now we figured out a design for the beds. We built 12 of those the first year.
Speaker 1:Yes, that was 21.
Speaker 3:That was in 21.
Speaker 1:So I think maybe the idea started in 20. I think you're right. I don't know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and then. So we built the first beds in 21, the second, 12 beds, in 22.
Speaker 1:Yes, okay. Yeah, we broke ground in 21 in February. Okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's just been. You know, now we've got irrigation.
Speaker 2:Yay Kind of it's coming along, but Can't trust Oklahoma's natural irrigation, that's for sure.
Speaker 3:And the first year it was so hot and we had the hand water everything.
Speaker 1:It was such a hot summer, yeah it was incredibly hot. And the volunteers have been so amazing since before this even started. I mean, I don't know if you remember, but we had a cardboard drive and had truckloads of cardboard because we had graded Bermuda's the devil y'all.
Speaker 3:I'm just going to say that.
Speaker 1:That and Sanford's. So we graded the Bermuda and got it all leveled out and then we had a church collection for all the cardboard and then putting the mulch on top of it and I think that was really cool. That was like the first big aha for me. Well, aside from the planning and all of that, it's like wow, this is really cool and this is totally out of my control and this is all God Like. I just remember praying for loaves and fishes and God just totally blew my mind.
Speaker 2:There were so many people that came out, it was amazing. And the cardboard was that an organic way to kill the Bermuda?
Speaker 1:Well, the.
Speaker 3:Bermuda was Certainly helps suppress it, yeah.
Speaker 2:Because, like in a nuclear holocaust, they always say cockroone will survive, twinkies and, I think, bermuda grass.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I agree with that. Yeah, not even close. Bermuda will survive. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yes, so we did that as an organic way to suppress it, because we were trying to figure out beds and all of that. So it was a good community building experience For sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so how many beds today? 24.
Speaker 3:Sounds like a lot. But that's 24 raised beds, that's raised beds, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then this year which I'm super pumped about is we started some in-ground beds. We have asparagus that we're planting and blackberries, and then also in-ground cut flower beds. We're doing more pollinating getting a lot of flowers inside the garden to bring the pollinators in, because it just helps with everything. It was just like our biggest surprise last year is people love the flowers and it's such a blessing to them. We made so many bouquets and gave them away for mom to mom, for ABC preschool, back to school, teachers for having them in the foyer on Sundays or people just to take home. It was really cool. So I started growing a lot of seeds in my house this year and we're going to have a bunch.
Speaker 2:She's an addict I am. I need to go, yeah.
Speaker 1:I am Seriously. I'm going to teach soil blocking next impact class. So cool.
Speaker 2:It is so cool it is. I'm such a dork, I love it. I have some of those materials, those little you have the soil blocker. I do.
Speaker 1:Oh, do you have the three quarter or the two inch?
Speaker 2:Oh boy, I think I have both.
Speaker 1:I want to get the two inch.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll let you borrow it. Yes.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's what our tomatoes and peppers are going to be next year, jim. All right, I started tomatoes and the blockers. Yes, you can do 50. Weeds, literally.
Speaker 2:Sorry, I'll stop, you're talking about it. It's not just vegetables and food. There's gonna be a beautification piece of it. As we go, more and more flowers and stuff right, and the flowers.
Speaker 3:We've got flowers along the front which starting to really come on right now, but the flowers that we plant within the beds with the vegetables, I think as the summer goes on. That's really the beautiful part is because as it gets hot and some of the vegetables start to kind of trail off a little bit the flowers, you can just go there and walk around and it's beautiful because of all the flowers. So it gives you a little bit of a lift, if nothing else. But yeah.
Speaker 1:So what we have planted, what we've planted for spring so far, we have like four different types of lettuces, four different types of kale, some mustard greens, radish, turnip, kohlrabi beets.
Speaker 3:Bok choy.
Speaker 1:Bok choy yeah bok choy. Yeah, sweet peas.
Speaker 3:Potatoes, potatoes, yes, fingerlings, yeah, we have like Three different, yeah, fingerlings and yukon and red.
Speaker 1:What else do we have we put in our tomatoes?
Speaker 3:and peppers.
Speaker 1:already we have lots of different varieties of each, because someone's addicted to growing things.
Speaker 3:We've got strawberries, strawberries, yes.
Speaker 1:We have broccolini.
Speaker 3:Oh right, and then?
Speaker 1:flowers in the cut flower beds. We have giant marigolds, giant zinnias, several varieties. We have dill, we have sunflowers, we will have cosmos and gonfrea and calendula. I don't remember what else is growing. Queen Anne's lace.
Speaker 3:Okay, you have it started from seed oh nice, you said dill.
Speaker 2:What other herbs?
Speaker 1:Yes, so we have like three different types of basil that are growing. We have lemon, genovese and then sweet basil yes we have sage that came back. Oregano we have tomatillos growing in there oh, is that what's in with the? Okay, yeah, and then I have some majorum which I had a seed packet and I wanted to try it. I don't know what you do with it though chicken.
Speaker 3:Okay, everything's good with chicken.
Speaker 1:I added tarragon this last year for the first time and it came back amazing.
Speaker 2:I didn't realize it would, I thought, because my rosemary died with that really intense but it's come back and it's great with chicken.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love tarragon. We'll have to try that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I love thyme too, but that didn't come back.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and the dill will be in the big flower bed in ground.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Because it's a tremendous attractant for pollinators.
Speaker 2:Oh, is that right, okay, yeah, talk about the future plans of the garden. We got to keep adding beds and doing more. Are we kind of at a finish line or you got more plans coming?
Speaker 3:I wish we were at the finish line, but we're not Gardening's a journey.
Speaker 1:There is no finish line, that's right.
Speaker 3:So we do have one structure that we're going to put up this year. So we have a little bit of shade out there, because in the summer it is blazing out there Absolutely no shade anywhere. So we are going to put up a structure to get some shade. Long term, we want to have a structure that is basically like a learning center, like a children's learning center. For the children, for the children.
Speaker 2:He's raising money folks.
Speaker 3:And you know, with that we'll have some storage incorporated in that structure for tools and things like that yes but also just a place for people to sit down again and that we can hopefully do some stuff with the kids kind of. The design of the in-ground beds that we've got going on now is, you know, to have that stuff down lower, and it's stuff that kids are obviously more interested in at this time. You know, they all like flowers.
Speaker 3:They're all gonna like blackberries you know, we'll have to get them out there when the blackberries are on, but because it's obviously not during the school year. But we can do something to get them oh yeah, so yeah yeah, we've got compost area in the one corner yep four big bins there that we rotate stuff through, so, but really the structure and to have a learning area is really what we, you know is the next big step.
Speaker 2:Could it be a structure, too that would like host, whether it's a small groups or something, but a space, Because it's going to be a beautiful space where people can gather and meet. Yeah, yeah, Great yes.
Speaker 1:So yeah, big picture is it's all part of the plan.
Speaker 2:It's all part of the plan.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I was going to say you mentioned the ABC preschool, the kids. They've been taking the kids out there and showing them the plants. They've even planted some things and helped us dig in some areas in our beds. It's been very good.
Speaker 3:And they make like decorations for us and that they put all up through there, it was really amazing.
Speaker 1:It was I love it. And we've also connected with Legacy Alliance. Okay, one of the teachers there, the science teacher, christina, and she has her class come out and help and do little projects for us, or help us water right now.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And they're helping us with the in-ground beds, and so we're just trying to keep layering and building the connections wherever we can.
Speaker 2:Yeah, how can people get involved if they want to get involved in this ministry?
Speaker 3:Well, every Saturday Monica hosts a workday, because I'm not at very many of them. And right now it's from 10 to noon. As the summer goes on and things get warmer, that time moves further and further early yes, I don't know what the earliest was. We got started.
Speaker 1:I think 8 am, yeah, like in the heat of summer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and by 10, it's smoking hot Saturday mornings, saturday mornings Just show up.
Speaker 3:Everybody's welcome, just show up.
Speaker 1:And you don't have to know anything about gardening.
Speaker 3:That's the beauty of it there, and you don't have to know anything about gardening.
Speaker 1:That's the beauty of it. There's always somebody there who can delegate or tell you what to do. And it's been really cool to see our core group of volunteers Like, a lot of them had no idea about gardening and they're learning and it's been really cool to see just people come back and we've just kind of built this cool community. I mean, we love having new people out there. We've had several new families join this season already and it's been great getting to know them, because it's just a place where you can have the one-off conversations, like you said earlier, heath, when you're doing something together for a purpose. So hey, how's your family, or how's this, or afraid for people and, yeah, building family.
Speaker 2:I love that. I see that too like the kitchen community. I mean that's a strong community. They are in there together having fun, and I love that we're adding more places to do that as a body.
Speaker 1:Yes, definitely so. Yeah, and the kitchen people are amazing. They give us their compost.
Speaker 3:That's right, I got a bag to take out there every Wednesday.
Speaker 2:When we do the coffee and the cold brew especially, it has a huge leftover grounds.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, let's throw it in the compost. We should throw it in the compost.
Speaker 2:For sure Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we used to have buckets to put those in, and I don't know where they went.
Speaker 2:We brew like five pounds every Sunday morning.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, I'm all about that. That's awesome, I'm all about that.
Speaker 3:That's a lot of grounds. That's a lot of grounds, yeah. They need to be going somewhere besides the trash. For sure that's right.
Speaker 2:Well, will you all hang around for another week to actually get into talking about gardening in Oklahoma? Does that sound good? Sure.
Speaker 1:Twist my arm, twist your arm. I could be here all day, all right, I love it.
Speaker 2:Thank you all for being here and we'll see you all next week. Thank you all for being here. We'll see you all next week. Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining Fellowship Around the Table, if you would like to learn more?
Speaker 2:go to FBCTulsaorg. Did you say it was on people's vines, or?
Speaker 1:minds, no minds. Sorry, we love our garden puns.
Speaker 2:Oh boy, they're easy, they are. There's a bunch of them, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
