St. James members lend a helping hand

“Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. … You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.” Martin Luther King Jr. Feb. 4, 1968

Hands using shovels to mix compost into soil, feet stomping the soil to compact it, hands creating compacted mounds of dirt, hands wielding trowels to gently plant seedlings, fingers poking holes in the soil to plant seeds.

These are some of the scenes that took place over the past month at the Three Sisters Community Garden at Merriman Circle in Auburn; and at the gardens at the Hillbrook Detention Center, Syracuse.

Members of the St. James community are helping children living at Merriman Circle and teens who are incarcerated at Hillbrook plant and maintain raised-bed gardens.

Many of the children and teens have never before worked the soil with a shovel or trowel, planted seeds and seedlings, or even seen a garden, much less benefited from the taste of fresh-from-the-garden veggies.

It is a learning experience for the children, teens, volunteers and staff.

The Three Sisters Community Garden at Merriman Circle is planted with corn, beans and squash in the manner in which indigenous peoples have planted the staple crops centuries before Europeans landed in the Americas and to this day.

The children are learning the native stories about Sisters Corn, Bean and Squash and are keeping a journal of their activities.

There are four raised-bed gardens at Hillbrook Detention Center.

Each has a theme. There is a Three Sisters Garden, a salsa garden, a greens garden and a salad garden.

Working alongside two St. James volunteers and Hillbrook staff, the teens are also learning about native gardening and the benefits of companion planting.

They are learning to work as a team in caring for the gardens; and are experiencing the trials and tribulations of gardening, especially when critters munch on the pepper and cucumber plants.

They are looking forward to making salads, salsa and greens from the harvest later this summer.

Funds for the materials for the Hillbrook project came from a 2023 Ministry Grant from the Episcopal Diocese of CNY.

Funds for the materials for the Merriman Circle project were generously donated by supporters of the Rescue Mission in Auburn.

Hand trowels and garden gloves for both projects were generously donated by the St. James congregation during the Month of Community Service.