“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field: it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” – Matthew 13:31-32
This parable not only represents our initial idea and vision for The Mustard Seed but is well suited for our current spring season! With summer poking around the corner, we are all – in a way – looking to nurture seedlings into new beginnings.
Across our locations, we’ve begun prepping our soil, counting our seeds, and recruiting our clients. We have projects thriving everywhere and are excited to get our hands dirty!
Growing in Edmonton:
Once again, this year we will be filling up a van full of clients from the 96th Street Building and transporting them to the 5-acre green space, Lady Flower Gardens. “Growing a healthy agricultural community with disadvantaged people” is the objective of the non-profit, but it’s the collaborations and friendships that keep a lot of our clients going back. With opportunities to weed and harvest, The Mustard Seed meal program and community kitchen thrive upon the chance to plant, grow, harvest, cook, and provide.
If you’ve like to get involved, visit LadyFlowerGardens.com for more information.
McCauley Gardens is another one of our green spaces where we rent box plots for the summer for the people in the neighbourhood, as well as partnering organizations and community members. The gardens are less than two blocks away from our 96th Street Building and are known for growing some huge sunflowers last year.
At our Mosaic Centre, we have an expanding garden program in the back of our building where our community kitchen participants plant and care for their ingredients. New additions to the garden this year include a compost, potato barrels, a bee hotel, and a new sign! The community garden committee will be able to use the garden as a source for providing meals to our clients.
We have also partnered with Sustainable Foods Edmonton and will be having representatives teach classes on medicinal herbs, canning, composting, and more – we’re excited, to say the least!
The Neighbour Centre for the first time is building a garden! That being said, we are a blank slate in need. “We are moving towards a sustainable-run kitchen and this is the first step,” said Nova, The Neighbour Centre Supervisor. Please email [email protected] to help or for more information visit our website here.
Click here to see our Edmonton Summer Wish List
Growing in Calgary:
Up on the rooftop patio of our 102 Building, we’ve started sweeping and seeding! The garden is a multi-purpose space ran by our residents and volunteers. It’s used as a place to enjoy, build, and experience community, all the while learning about gardening and engaging in garden/horticultural therapy. Any produce will be given to our community.
The 1010 Centre has also engaged in a garden project this year – we’ve empowered our residents to care for the seedlings on the 3rd-floor patio. We’ve installed small planters but have hopes (and the space) to install big planters. Please let us know if you can help!
If you’d like to get involved with our gardens, please contact [email protected] to help or for more information.
Click here to see our Calgary Summer Wish List
Growing in Red Deer:
Our new head chef, Corinna, has taken over our garden projects this summer and is busy! She has plans to plant lettuce, radishes, celery, onions, and herbs to use for our kitchen meals for the community we serve. Located beside City Chapel Fellowship church and our housing apartment, the garden is smaller than we’d hope, but Corinna has plans for her potatoes. “My friend has a huge garden so she will be planting the potatoes for me,” Corinna told us.
Click here to see our Red Deer Summer Wish List
