Weeds! Weeds! Weeds!

Gan Am Messiah has two sites.  One at the Congregation and another at a member's home.  We have alot of variety at the  Beth Am Messiah.  We have planted, picked, and pulled up lettuce, peas (podded and edible pod), and spinach.  We have re-planted with beans, yellow and zucchini squash, more beets and more tomatoes. We have been blessed with our first tomato, which we will enjoy on a platter with store bought tomatoes at our oneg this Shabbat. 

There have been problems, primarily a groundhog who my wife has named Goniff.  (It means thief.  She also said that if he keeps stilling we'll make him - gone if...)  The fences have been fixed and beautified with marigolds.  After I determined that Goniff had pushed our gates open.  I created a "lock" for those gates.  Thankfully others have found some substance that should deter Goniff and send him to tastier pastures..er gardens.

The garden at the congregation is in raised beds filled with topsoil graciously given us by a landscaper.  However, the other site is a first year tilled, unraised garden with lots of weed seeds. We planted crops that would take up more space:  potatoes, butternut squash, and cucumbers,. You can see from the mini-videos those weeds (and my learning curve with an ipad camera).  Weeds are another enemy of the farmer.

Yeshua (Jesus) used them in some of His parables to illustrate one of the ways the enemy of our souls attacks us.  Yeshua had more than one parable about weeds, but let us look at the one in Luke 8

⁴ While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: ⁵ “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. ⁶ Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.” (NIV)

I like raspberries, but they do not belong in the garden. I have a saying. Anything that is growing where you do not want it to grow is a weed. Thorns are particularly nasty weeds. Not only do they hurt plants but they also hurt those who try to remove them.
Then Yeshua interpreted the parable, you can read the whole but I want to merely quote His teaching about the weeds. 

¹⁴ The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature  (Luke 8:14 -NIV)

In the garden of life where our souls dwell, we are surrounded by many of life's worries and cares.  Clearly the economy is a worry for many of us.  We worry about whether the right person will be elected as president.  We work to advance ourselves in school or in our professions. There may be good reason to have concerns about these, but even they can be a distract. 

Of course distractions can come in very minor ways.  Did I DVR that show I like so much?  Did I remember to "like" the online game I have been playing?  Did I get to the store in time to get the super terrific bargin on bon-bons?  My Uncle Walter used to describe a donut shop that made excellant donuts.  He said that the donut maker had a secret recipe and there were people who worried that the man would die without sharing his recipe. 

All of these things, even our rightful concerns, when they become the center of our lives are weeds.  We need to deal with those weed.  It takes work to pull them out.  Even if the weed it a raspberry, it takes work to transplant it to where it belongs.  We must not let the weeds crowd out the things that our Heavenly Father has given us.  He has given us family, friends, and even most importantly His Messiah - Yeshua.  Yeshua spoke of the things that we have need of in the Sermon on the Mount saying, "³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."  (Matthew 6:33-34-NIV).


"  ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Messiah Yeshua." (Phillipians 4:6,7 - NIV with Messiah Yeshua subtituted for Christ Jesus)

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Perpetual Spinach,  Swiss Chard, Beets with Greens and Basil

Enemies: Part 2

There are many enemies of the garden.  The groundhog is the chief enemy at the congregational garden, but it is not the only enemy.  I have included a picture of a "nice" squash plant and a cut off one.  These were planted in hills of about 7 seeds and were the first plants to come up.  You will see two things.  First,  it is is very dry.  We have had 90 degree plus weather off and on for the last three weeks.  Second, if you look carefully, you will see a stem without leaves.  Something has eaten it.  I could claim all damage on the groundhog, but there are insects and other things that enjoy young plants.

There are a host of enemies attacking the garden - bugs, larger animals like groundhogs and even deer, drought, and perhaps even ourselves when we are careless.  This again is parallel to the world, the flesh and the devil.

Cucumber 7-11-12

Yeshua/Jesus spoke of a sower going out to scatter seeds.  Not all the seeds met a good end.  If you remember some were scattered on stony soil.  They sprang up and had no root.  Others were chocked out by weeds.  Some were eaten by birds.  But some fell in good soil and gave a good increase.  You can read parallel accounts in Matthew 13, Mark 4, and Luke 8.

Yeshua interpreted the parable for His disciples in Matthew 13:18-23

 ¹⁸ “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. ²⁰ The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹ But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. ²² The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. ²³ But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” . 

Tomatoes 7-11-12

In the past when I thought on this, I was troubled.  I said to myself,  how can anyone be sure that they are good soil?  However, working in the garden has given me some perspective.  I can choose to take the stones out of the soil.  I can choose to weed the garden.  I can choose to cover the seed to keep it from the birds.  Granted,  troubles come to Gan Am Messiah and to the gardens of our lives.  The woodchuck/groundhog lurks nearby.  Even so, in each case we are able through prayer and the help of the Almighty, we learn what to do, do it and prevail against our enemies.  Yes, there are times when all that we can do is pray... and it is enough.
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No veggies this week - 7-21-12

Enemies- Part 1: Groundhog

This past Wednesday I was repairing breaches in the garden fence.  On Thursday I took steps to make it pretty.  Robert Frost wrote,  “good fences make good neighbors.”  He was not, however, referring to our congregational neighbors –the groundhog family.

Noonan, Linda. groundhog1.jpg. July 11, 2005.
Pics4Learning. 12 Jul 2012
 http://pics.tech4learning.com

Recently I heard how the cute little groundhog runs around, playing with the squirrels on the property.  I suppose he is cute, but whenever we see each other he runs for his hole under our porch.  The first time he dined at Gan Am Messiah, he devoured chard, perpetual spinach, and lettuce.  So the fence went up.  He made some holes under and through the fence,  eating cabbage, additional helpings of chard, garnished with the tips of budding tomato plants.  I put asphalt around the fence to hold it down

A lover of the beauty of gardens decided that the asphalt looked ugly.  Indeed it did.  Through no fault of his own, he was ignorant of our ravenous neighbor.  In the meantime, the groundhog found another way into the garden.  He had a second helping of cabbage.

Cabbage taken 7-11-12 -
Groundhog returned for thirds at night.

On Wednesday I inspected the garden and discovered additional holes in the fence.  One near a parking lot and the others were renewed where the asphalt had been.  I don’t blame the lover of groundhog cuteness or the lover of beauty.  Both persons are not wrong, but I would like us to grow crops and eat them too.  So I returned the asphalt to the area of groundhog holes.  I came back on Thursday and camouphaged the asphalt with soil, planting young marigolds in the soil.

I had said that I would take additional measures and I did.  Is this the end of the groundhog problem?  No,  it pushed in bottom gate and made a space.  It ate the other half of the cabbage.  I found a way to lock the gates shut.  Is that the end of the groundhog problem?  We'll see.

One remaining pepper in bed-
destroyed the night of 7-12-12

Let us be warned that the same sorts of things happen with our spiritual life.  Our spiritual enemy is not a cute little groundhog, in fact we have many spiritual enemies.  Specifically this includes the world, the flesh, and the devil.   As it is written in 1 John 2:15-16 "¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world."   Also see Ephesians 6: 11-12,   " ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. "

Other part of pepper be with dill, basil and thyme

These enemies are much more powerful than a little groundhog and even more persistant.  Don't despair because as "A Mighty Fortress is our God" says of the enemy,  "one little word shall fell him."  Despite our inadequecies, that Word (or logos) is Yeshua/Jesus.  The success of the garden and our own ultimate success have something to do with how we live our lives, yes.  There is something about active faith, yes.  Yet ultimately sucess is based on what Yeshua/Jesus has done.

Next Week:  Part 2 of Garden Enemies
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Chard, Perpetual Spinach, Beet Greens and Basil.

Next week there will be no distribution of veggies.  I will be away.

Tikvah - Waiting

Last Week we wrote about beginnings and hope.  This week we continue on the theme of hope and waiting.  The Hebrew for hope is Tikvah. 


                                                         Potatoes -original picture

Added 7-13-12

Tikvah does not merely mean hope.  It is more like waiting with expectation.  We had to wait for our first harvest -radishes.  Our hope was based on the green leaves and the small round radishes that we could see.  We had expectations.  Our hope was not in vain and everyone who was at the Shavuot/Pentecost picnic could have eaten radishes.


Added 7-13-12

Two weeks ago we planted potatoes.  Yes, it was late,be we have hope, not just because they are planted, but because they came up.  We hope for a full harvest based on our even reasonable expectations.

Tomatoes and partly eaten peppers
added 7-13-12

Now, in the Lord, we have hope in all that He has promised.  Many of those things are available now - like shalom/peace.  Yeshua/Jesus said,  “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”(John 16:33- NIV).  There is also the promise and hope of the Resurrection and life everlasting (1 Corinthians 15, John 3:16). 

Now our hope as far as the garden is concerned is based on our observations and our work.  We are waiting with expectation for a full harvest.  However,  our hope in what the Lord has promised is based on our allegiance to Him and what He has said in Scripture.  Weather and even our health (in terms of working the garden) are variable, but God's word is ever true (Isaiah 40:8).

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This week parsley and herbs.   Lettuce at the oneg