Garden Details
Garden Details
The Giving Field, created in 2012, is a one-acre donation garden that provides organically grown fruits and vegetables to area soup kitchens and food pantries to provide a more nutritious meal for their clients at no charge to these food assistance programs. The garden is maintained by volunteers and is managed through two full time and one part time paid employees. The Giving Field is a non-profit program of St. Anne Catholic Church in Beaumont, Texas.
Mission: To help feed the hungry in Southeast Texas by bringing together the community through gardening, education, and fellowship.
Objectives:
• Grow and maintain nutritious food sources for area soup kitchens and food pantries through organic and sustainable practices.
• Provide educational experiences that foster a deeper appreciation for how the natural world sustains us and promote the betterment of the wellbeing of the members in our community.
• Provide fellowship and service opportunities for everyone to use their time, talent, and treasure to help people in need.
Garden Practices
Garden Practices
We are an organic garden that contains 45 raised beds, 7 fruit trees, 10 handicapped beds, 12 hens, one bee hive, a compost pile, greenhouse, native plant bed and a covered learning center that collects rainwater.
We grow year round. Spring/Summer crops include: cucumbers, sugar snap peas, squash, herbs, green beans, cantaloupe, peppers, eggplants, okra, onions, tomatoes, and lettuce. Fall/Winter crops include: beets, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Swiss Chard, herbs, collards, mustards, kale, lettuce, radish, sweet potatoes and sugar cane. We also have succulents and many seasonal flowers.
All of the work that is needed at the field to grow the produce that gets sent to the soup kitchens & food pantry is performed by members of the local community that give of their time to volunteer at the garden. To date over 35,000 volunteer hours have been logged at the garden. Additionally, there are members of the local community that hold sponsorships of raised vegetable beds, fruit trees and egg laying hens at the garden. This sponsorship group comprised of individuals as well as local businesses, whose sponsorships that are collected on an annual basis, provide the means to pay for the chicken feed, water, seeds, and soil that are needed to grow the plants in this year-round garden. Any projects that are needed at The Giving Field are also supported by the local community through fundraising events, donations, and grants. Community members also attend garden workdays along with soup kitchen clients and at-risk youths. These members work side by side which creates a bond between the group members. Younger at-risk youths are paired with older community members to provide a mentoring platform. Local schools also contribute to the volunteer base on a weekly basis. Area school curriculum has been incorporated into the garden to provide school age children with an educational and community service experience.
Additional Information
Additional Information
Our garden challenges are mostly weather related issues. Our location in Southeast Texas has hurricanes and droughts on a regular basis. And because we grow year round, if there is a major cool weather event during the winter months our garden is also challenged.
Funding becomes an issue when we are in a national or regional economic strain. However, during the "good times" we tend to have strong and consistent support by individuals and businesses in our area.
Pests are always a challenge, especially considering we practice organic gardening.
Donations and grants are always being researched. Currently we are gearing up to build a kitchen classroom at the field and funds for the initial building will be needed, as well as, maintenance support after the build out.
The Giving Field does not distribute the produce directly to the hungry. Some Other Place soup kitchen in Beaumont, Texas and Market to HOPE food pantry in Beaumont, Texas are the current recipients of the produce harvested from the garden. The soup kitchen & food pantry are the vehicles to get the produce to the hungry, who are the main target group of the mission. To date we have delivered over 85,000 pounds of organic produce that has created over 340,000 healthy servings to these agencies.
