Shelby Association garden keeps growing

Shelby Association garden keeps growing

Back in 2018 something fairly miraculous happened in Shelby Baptist Association — out of the blue, a lady from Texas offered the association a two-acre plot of land to build a community garden.

“It was an answer to years of prayer for us,” said Keith Brown, church and community ministries director for Shelby Association, noting that they had wanted a garden to grow fresh food for the community.

“For those who are food insecure, this will help them have a well-balanced diet. We serve a lot of people across the county through our food pantry and mobile food pantry. This will help us do that in an even better way.”

So they got to work, planned out the space and built grow beds that will hold vegetable plants this spring. They’ve also taken soil samples and gotten ready to plant fruit trees.

But the story doesn’t end there, Brown said — when Crossroads Baptist Church, Montevallo, heard about what they were doing, they offered their three-acre plot to plant a garden for that area too.

“We’ve also had a third church talk to us about it, so we’re looking at working on that this summer too,” Brown said. (Grace Thornton)