BUMCCG

 Bearden UMC Community Garden - Alliance Meeting 9/22/26. On Tuesday, BUMC hosted the Knox County Community Garden and Grower's Alliance monthly meeting with other coordinators for local community gardens. We were able tell them about establishing our garden and give them a tour of the garden. They were impressed.  Below is our summary of establishment and production that we shared at the meeting.  Bearden United Methodist Community Garden  Summary of Establishment and Production In January 2025, the BUMC Board of Trustees approved the use of an unused playground for creating a Community Garden. The playground is approximately 70’ x 40’s and the side yard was 27’ x 8’.   Because BUMC used the playground for toddler’s Easter Egg Hunt, we could not start converting the playground into garden until after Easter. In April, I met with Rylan Thompson, our Knox County Extension agent over KCMG program. He suggested joining Alliance to be able to use my master ...

 Bearden UMC Community Garden - Harvest 9/20/26.  We are still harvesting vegetables that we place in the Gleaning Baskets on the garden fence to feed our neighbors. The garden is still growing. With the heat and very little rain, I regularly water the garden.  My volunteer, Carol, is very good at harvesting to place produce in our gleaning basket several times a week. Today Pastor Stephanie had the Children's Sunday School class tour the garden and talk about us been the branches to Christ's vine. I gave her a Sweet Potatoe vine to show the kid's during the childern's sermon.  This week the Knox County Community Garden and Grower's Alliance (https://knoxgardenalliance.org/) will be meeting to tour our garden that they helped us to start.  Blessing, Leigh

 Bearden UMC Community Garden - Giveaway 9/12/26. I am thankful to the volunteers who helped to harvest for our giveaway on Saturday 9/12. We gave away over 40 pounds for produce – okra, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, potatoes, carrots, basil, rosemary, and tromboncino squash. For the giveaway, I made a tromboncino squash and potato parmesan casserole that we gave away samples and the recipes.    Earlier this week, we have planted collard greens in our new raised beds that are covered. Earlier in the week we gave away produce in the gleaning baskets on the garden fence.  Blessings, Leigh

 Bearden UMC Community Garden - New raised bed 8/30/26.  This last week, we built our second raised bed, which is a longer and skinner that the first raised bed. I am thankful for my husband, who help me to build and fill the first few layers.  The first layer is logs and stick, which will help feed the soil for several years and provide good drainage. On Saturday, Dan and I filled the beds from the big pile of compost.  Now that the pile of compost is gone, I can order a free chip drop from a local arborist to layer the pathways to help prevent weeds.  Some of the summer veggies are starting to die off. I planted some cucumber seedlings and clipped back some of the marigolds and used in the compost bins.  Many of veggies are sill growning and producing 10-20 pounds of food every other day for our neighbors.  Our neighbors are usually picking up the produce within a day.  I plan to plant winter vegetables in our new best soon.  Thanks, L...

 Bearden UMC Community Garden - Produce and Pest 8/23/26.  We harvested several times this week and put the produce in the gleaning baskets. I had some excitement on Saturday when I discover a baby king snake that I threw into our new raised bed with mulched leaves. I am very thankful to my volunteers, who help me to capture the snake and send it off to the forest this afternoon.  Today, we also did an nice harvest of okra, cucumbers, tomatoes, tromboncino squash, green beans, and peppers.   Last Thursday, we had a great harvest to put in the gleaning baskets. The garden is growing.  We harvested over 23 pounds of cucumbers, okra, green beanks, tromboncino squash, and tomatoes.  The Tromboncino squash is taking over the garden fence next to the building and producing big squash.  I am thankful for the good supply of food scraps on my red can. I need lots of compost for my new raised bed.  I alway check my food scraps before I put into our com...

 Bearden UMC Community Garden - Produce Giveaway 8/8/26. We had 73 pounds of garden produce that we gave away at our BUMC Produce Giveaway.  Tomateos, okra, and cumcumbers: Green beans and onions: Potatoes: Carrots, turnips, tromboncino and yellow squash:  I also made roasted tromboncino squash and onions that I gave away as samples to help folks understand how it tastes and how to cook. I also gave away the recipe.  We also had greens.  I was very fortunate to have volunteers help with harvesting Thursday and Saturday. They also help weight and record all the produce.  God has been watering an inch mid-day Saturday morning.  This week, our gleaning basket has been filled up almost every day and folks have been collecting it all by the next day. I hope soon to have same more professional and waterproof signs.  I am very thankful for God growing great fresh food that we get to distribute to those in need.  Blessings, Leigh

 Bearden UMC Community Garden - Gleaning Basket 8/4/26.  Yesterday at the Knox County Master Gardener's meeting, I heard a presentation by Pastor Chris Battle about starting the Battlefield Farms (https://battlefieldfarm.org/), which was to help solve the food desert problem in East Knoxville. He also talked about the start of the Knox County Community Gardens and Grower's Alliance (https://knoxgardenalliance.org/), which our community garden is a member of. When he started the farm, they added gleaning baskets to the fences surround the farm to distribute food, which was based on Leviticus 19:9-10. I loved this idea and today added a basket to our fence with a sign about the gleaning basket and placed our harvest in the basket and fence.  The sign says:  GLEANING BASKET at the edge of our field for YOU from the BUMC Community Garden. YOU MATTER! Leviticus 19:9-10 NIV “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather ...