Loveland, Ohio – This is the second year for the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church’s Community Garden at 101 S. Lebanon Road.
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There are 35 families sharing 32 spaces, growing vegetables and flowers. Each family pledges a donation of at least ten percent to the LIFE Food Pantry, but some give everything they grow.
Because they grow in straw bales, there is little to no weeding, and gardeners who have mobility issues have easier access to their vegetables in the raised beds. “Almost half of our gardeners are not members of Prince of Peace,” said church member, Sheryl Melvin. “There is no cost to gardeners except for the seeds or plants they purchase, but their donations allow us to supplement the produce we donate to the pantry with recipe kit bags.”
Volunteers from both the Church and the food pantry harvest together each Monday and Thursday morning.
Melvin added, “We offer workshops on how to grow gardens in straw bales each February and March, and have mentored other churches that wanted to start community gardens.”
Second Sundays in the Community Garden is light potluck supper and informal worship service on every second Sunday evening, June through October at 6 PM, then ending with prayers. Everyone is invited.
Recipe Kit Bags?
Sheryl Melvin explains:
Our thought was that sometimes we run across a vegetable we’ve not eaten before, and it would be helpful to have a good recipe describing how to prepare it. So, we created recipe kits bags. Each one has a recipe for zucchini or tomatoes or cucumbers or something else, and we staple the recipe to the bag and fill the bag with the shelf stable ingredients needed to make that recipe (like cooking oil, white wine vinegar, seasonings, baking mixes, pasta or Parmesan cheese) if they choose that vegetable from the pantry.
We delivered a set of 20 for zucchini pie Thursday, and I learned they are gone already. I will be taking kits for black and white bean and tomato salad this week.
We have another set of 20 for vegetable pasta salad after that.
The church funded the recipe kits project.
Is 180 lbs too much for you? Then consider buying your produce at our retail store at the Grailville Milk and Honey House. We will have fresh organic produce in stock every day during the growing season in our store.
Earth-Shares CSA also has a booth at the Loveland Farmers Market. 
Our members enjoy fresh seasonal produce, all grown on our farm in Loveland; our land is Certified Organic by the USDA and the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA). In 2016, each member received over 180 pounds of vegetables over the course of the growing season, which runs approximately 22 weeks. The harvest varies by week, and each year is different, depending on many variables including weather conditions, pest activity, crop rotation, and planting patterns.
