The Garden of Hope Story

 The Garden of Hope Story

Through God's Grace

by Jan Marshall

10'X3' Coldframe

Tomatoes Galore!

The Garden of Hope began in June of 2011.  It has been a long time dream of mine to sell vegetables from my garden.  In June of 2011 I had a 20’X40’ garden that I was very happy with. But it would certainly not support much more than our own vegetable needs.  They say necessity is the mother of invention and when my bookkeeping business took at hit with the stressed economy, it seemed time to find a new avenue of income.  A good friend, Jill, said "you have to start a CSA."

Since I had no idea what a CSA was I was confused.  But Jill knew about my dream and explained that  CSA means Community Supported Agriculture and consists of selling shares in your garden.  These shares are sold in the form of boxes of vegetables on a weekly basis to folks who want fresh veggies. That sounded like something I could get my tiller into!!



So..........since I had little money and still had to keep my bookkeeping business going to survive, I said  “Lord, if this is going to happen and it’s your will, I will need your help. So I’m putting this in your hands, show me what you want me to do.” And with the help of my sister-in-law, Carolyn, who came up with the name Garden of Hope, we were off and running.  

More Tomatoes!

Well God apparently meant for it to happen, for in spite of lousy weather for growing, the fact that I was about 3 weeks late getting seeds in the ground and had no idea what I was doing regarding finding people to sell shares to, things started to happen. First thing I did was get a business license and plant those seeds!

Everywhere I mentioned I was going to sell vegetables, people were interested in buying them.  In a short time I had 3 boxes signed up for on a regular basis and 3 others occasionally.  Now I had to come up with produce to fill these boxes and my garden was small and late-BUT I had  neighbors who were  fantastic growers and I bought veggies from them.  The Garden of Hope made it’s first sale August 3rd, 2011 and we were in business. The response was amazing, people loved the produce selection and we found places interested in buying the items we hadn’t sold in the boxes.

Considering the whole idea for the Garden of Hope came about at a time when things were not what you could call prime for this type of operation, I felt we were doing pretty good.

As things progressed, we determined how we could expand the garden to 40’X70’, maybe not huge, but remember my neighbors who are now selling me veggies - well they decided to expand their garden as well, so things are looking up.  While on a visit to one of my son’s I mentioned that my next hurdle was to get a good sized greenhouse, my daughter-in-law said “you aren’t going to believe this, come with me”.  They had bought a home whose grounds had once been a nursery and there was a 20’X12’ green house structure-and they gave it to me!!  I’m busy saying thank you, God!! I have a Mantis, which I love, but when you are looking at rototilling this new size garden, the small size of a Mantis was rather daunting. My neighbors bought a garden tractor and sold me their older rototiller for a reasonable amount-one I could afford! I needed lumber for raised beds and another of my son’s said I can get you what you need for the price of the gas to haul them.  I am very much convinced that God is most definitely making things happen and I must tell you that I am looking forward to next year with great enthusiasm.