Community Harvest is our community garden program that provides gardening plots for families who need space for a garden as well as those who want to learn to grow organic vegetables and cultivate their green thumbs. A portion of the harvest is donated to food pantries and local shelters. Our vision is to foster communication and understanding across cultures and ages while working side by side. For more information, contact Activities.

Community Harvest, our community garden “ministry” and outreach program, was launched in 2007 with fourteen plots maintained, individually or in groups, by members of Community Unitarian Universalist Church. Thanks to your moral support, “sweat equity” and “seed” money, it was a huge success. 349.4 pounds of fresh produce were shared with the community: 167.4 pounds to God’s Food Pantry, City House and Samaritan Inn - 182 pounds reported shared with neighbors in need, AIDS hospice in South Dallas and the local fire station. In 2008, we will have 22 gardeners, several of whom are our neighbors, growing vegetables in an earth friendly way to share with the community.

Last year the members and friends of Community UU Church generously funded the construction and start up of Community Harvest Garden by sending us donations and attending our soup and salad Sunday luncheons. We’re planning more fun and creative fundraisers in 2008, and the first is a cookbook.

Please pick up to eight of your recipes that feature fresh vegetables grown in our garden. Those could include squash, zucchini, tomatoes, beans, carrots, shallots, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, okra, cantaloupe and watermelon, a variety of herbs, and more. We have enjoyed splendid meals prepared in many of your kitchens and we know you can cook! So consult your recipe files and grab six or eight that don’t require a degree from the Culinary Institute. Then go to www.typensave.com. Enter CUUC as the username and garden as the password. The program walks you through the process and you’ll be done in twenty minutes or less. Please set aside some time this week to make your contribution, and if you have family members or friends who have wowed you with their ratatouille, ask them to contribute. We’d like to have all the recipes collected by the end of April.

We are grateful to Ruth Louk who is leading this cookbook project. The resulting compendium will be a treasure for us all and the sale of the books in the fall will provide the funds to sustain the gardens! Contact Ruth at thala@verizon.net if you need tech support.