by Gladys Neigel
Lloyd Babb, Master Gardener and member at Forest Lake Church, Apopka, Fla., hosted a Fall Gardening class at the church featuring Tom MacCubbin, fellow Master Gardener who appears locally on media and writes a newspaper column for Orlando Sentinel.
Lloyd hosted and/or taught 12 lessons on various aspects of gardening during the past year. He calls this mission outreach “Gardening For God.”
“We are told in Spirit of Prophecy that the health message is the ‘entering wedge,'” says Lloyd. “However, I have found that gardening can also be the ‘entering wedge’ to talk to others, as many people today are looking for ways to grow their own vegetables for several reasons:”
- Vegetables have flowers, too. Striking flowers can be found in the midst of the vegetable patch.
- Vegetable gardening is healthier. Gardening provides the benefits of exercise and fresh air, and vegetables will supply the grower with nutritious produce loaded with vitamins and nutrients.
- Edible gardens are picture perfect. Gardens can be designed to offer just as much beauty, color, variety, and interest to your landscape as any ornamental-only garden.
- Vegetables are historical. Heirloom vegetables have been treasured and passed down for centuries, and many come with fascinating histories.
- Growing veggies can be profitable. Organic foods continue to rise in price, so a backyard vegetable factory may become a real moneymaker.
- Vegetable gardens are versatile. A simple garden can incorporate all manner of vegetation from fruits and vegetables, to herbs and flowers.
- Vegetable gardeners have more friends. Let word slip out that gourmet treats are growing in your backyard, and your popularity is almost guaranteed.
- Growing vegetables fosters creativity. You’ll be amazed at your ability to come up with new ideas for preparing loads of fresh produce.
- Cultivating independence. It is nice to know that your own two hands can put food on the table, reduce your dependency on the supermarket, and provide gourmet produce for your family’s enjoyment.
Let men and women work in field and orchard and garden. This will bring health and strength to nerve and muscle. Living indoors and cherishing invalidism is a very poor business. If those who are sick will give nerves and muscles and sinews proper exercise in the open air, their health will be renewed. —Medical Ministry, page 296.4