Abundance Acres Updates
Harvest Celebration! September 6, 2009: Although Abundance Acres is still growing and producing food, we held a harvest celebration after worship on Sunday. With the Cleveland Heights High Barbershop Group serenading us, we made our way out the front of the church and around to the Monticello Rd. side to celebrate God’s bounty with prayer and fellowship.
First stop was the potato patch where Paul Jennings taught kids how to find and harvest the underground veggies and discussed the finer points of potatoes with members and friends.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Many people waded right in and started helping with the harvest…
Some worked in groups of 2 or 3, while others found a solitary spot and hunkered down for some meditative gardening.
The carrot patch drew a lot of attention with some folks comparing the size of their prizes.
Other harvests were compared as well: 
But all comparisons ended as we joined hands in prayer around the garden, giving thanks for the gifts that we have been privileged to pass on to others.
Over 80 pounds of food was harvested to feed the hungry in our midst during Sunday’s Celebration. This brings the total food donated to the FHC Food Pantry to almost 250 pounds so far!
God is good!
(Photographs courtesy of Kevin Steiner)
July 19, 2009: In less than a month, the garden has really filled out. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our gardening teams, the broccoli, snap peas, tomatoes, squash, sunflowers, peppers, and cabbage are beautiful to behold.
…each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. ~ Luke 6:44
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(Thanks to Dick Secor for this lovely photographic record.)
June 24, 2009:
At this point, the garden is thriving! The onion and marigold border keeps the rabbits and woodchucks away. The single strand of string soaked in deer repellant stands in for a fence. And everything looks lush and green, thanks to our many volunteer gardeners. 
Almost every day volunteers drop by to maintain the garden. They are organized into 4 teams: 
- The SQUASH Team handles the northwest corner, tending to the squash, broccoli, radishes, chard, cukes, beans and peas. (Laura Steiner, Sandy Schultz, Becky West and Sue Lafferty)
- The GREENS Team patrols the southwest corner with the herbs, beets, collard greens, spinach, and lettuce. (Kathy Hanna Stauffer, Elaine Turley, Mary Hill, Jenny Himmelman and Jeanette Nemcek)
Two cabbage plants growing in Forest Hill Church's Abundance Acres
- The CABBAGE Team cares for the southeast corner with its herb bed, hot peppers, carrots, sweet peppers, garlic, okra, and cabbage. (Keith and Laurie Logan, Kevin Ball, Brittani Ball, and Kaye Gardiner)
- And finally, the TOMATO Team maintains the northeast corner’s trellises of cukes and snap peas, the bed of eggplant, carrots, and sweet peppers and also checks up on the potatoes just outside the fenced area. (Paul Jennings, Jeff Smith, Valerie Greenlee, Debbie Adrine, and Joy Stang)
June 8, 2009:
The abundant rains made a great contribution along with the dedicated weeding and insect removal of our garden teams.
June 1, 2009:
A little over a month since the seeds went into the ground, most of the vegetables have poked their heads above ground.
April 25, 2009: Over 50 people showed up to remove the sod, turn it under, and rototill the new garden. Potatoes, beans, squash, tomatoes, and more were planted by our volunteers. Member Laura Steiner spearheaded the effort and encouraged everyone to plant an extra row for the hungry in their gardens at home.
———————————— Volunteers from Boy Scout Troop 403 provided some much needed muscle and learned a thing or two about gardens and rototilling in the process.
Many others took turns digging, breaking up clumps of dirt, and testing the soil, before the first crop - potatoes! - was planted and covered with straw.
Keith Logan and Jeff Smith of Cleve. Hts. inspect the soil
Laura Steiner (center) with Laurie Logan (left) and Julie Lustic (right)
Everything was carefully measured