The Garden Connection – January 2026 | Reflections and Planning

The quieter rhythms of January can offer space to reflect on the past year and begin planning for the season ahead. Even while gardens rest, this time of year often invites thoughtful consideration of what we hope to cultivate – in the soil and in our communities.

This issue of The Garden Connection reflects on the connection between reflection and preparation, encouraging small steps that help gardens continue to foster community, learning, and care for creation in the months ahead.

Read the full newsletter:
https://mailchi.mp/143e2208f49f/the-garden-connection-january-reflections-planning

January 16, 2026

January offers a chance to pause and take stock of our gardens and the work that sustains them. We continue tending gardens as places of mercy, community, and care for creation, with patience and attention. We’re grateful to begin the year connected through this community, and we wish you a peaceful and grounded start to the year.

Garden Spotlight: Franciscan Community Garden

Established in 2011, the Franciscan Community Garden at the Catholic Community of St. Francis of Assisi in Raleigh, North Carolina is a place of steady, year-round care. Volunteers gather each week to grow food for neighbors experiencing food insecurity. Using organic methods and sustainable practices, the garden produces vegetables and herbs that are shared with local partners to support individuals and families in need, with annual donations reaching as high as 5,000 pounds. The garden reflects a thoughtful approach to stewardship. Raised beds, careful soil enrichment, and practices that support long-term soil health guide the work. A rain and pollinator garden, along with blueberry bushes and fig trees native to the region, deepens the garden’s connection to the local ecosystem. An accessible bed is also being added so that people with mobility challenges can more fully participate. Because the garden sits on a campus with a school, it also serves as a place of learning and formation. Students from preschool through eighth grade, often joined by their parents, spend time in the garden exploring the connection between faith, nature, and care for creation. As the garden’s stewards like to say, it has become something of a “miracle garden,” shaped as much by shared effort and generosity as by seeds and soil.

January Garden Saints

St. Aelred of Rievaulx (January 12) As a Cistercian abbot, St. Aelred lived within a tradition where land was carefully tended in service of prayer and community. Monastic gardens were both practical and symbolic, reflecting a way of life shaped by balance, humility, and shared responsibility. St. Anthony the Abbot (January 17) Often depicted with animals, St. Anthony is the patron saint of animals and a foundational figure in monastic life. His simple, attentive way of living reflects reverence for creation, and his feast day is traditionally marked by blessings of animals and farmers. St. Francis de Sales (January 24) St. Francis de Sales often used garden imagery to describe spiritual growth, encouraging people to “bloom where they are planted.” He taught that God tends each soul gently, according to its season. St. Paula of Rome (January 26) St. Paula founded women’s monastic communities in Bethlehem, shaping spaces of prayer, hospitality, and daily work tied closely to the land. Her leadership reflects a long tradition of creating places of welcome and care.

Funding & Grant Opportunities

As gardens look ahead to the coming season, access to funding can play an important role. We’ll continue sharing grant and funding opportunities in the CGN Community Forum as we hear about them.

Recently, we posted two opportunities in the forum, including one that supported a garden in the CGN Garden Directory with a $20,000 grant.

If you’re seeking funds for your garden, we invite you to check the forum regularly and to share opportunities you come across as well.

If you’re listed as a contact for a garden in the CGN Garden Directory, you’re already able to sign in and post in the forum. Anyone is welcome to join the CGN Community Forum by visiting https://catholicgarden.org/ and signing up through the homepage.

Every Garden Has Stories One of the gifts of Catholic Garden Network is learning from the many ways gardens take shape in Catholic communities. We’re always grateful to receive stories, photos, and reflections from gardens across the network. You’re welcome to reply to this email to share a story, photo, or reflection from your garden. If you steward a garden in a Catholic setting and haven’t yet added it to the CGN Garden Directory, you’re warmly invited to do so. Add your garden to the directory: https://catholicgarden.org/add-listing/garden/

With Gratitude As we begin a new year, we offer sincere thanks to those who supported Catholic Garden Network through year-end giving. Your generosity strengthens this work of connection, encouragement, and shared learning among gardens in Catholic communities. We are also grateful to the many gardeners, partners, and supporters who sustain this work through time, presence, and care. This network exists because of your steady commitment.