Why We Grow?

We grow for a multitude of reasons: 

• just because we can :)

• there was an old structure on our parish & school property that had lived long past its prime and was being removed;

• we had a Bishop (Gary Gordon) who thought outside the box and wondered if we could grow potatoes on the property because he planted Yukon Gold potatoes every year while he was Bishop in Whitehorse, Yukon;  

• Pope Francis published the landmark document Laudato Si, which stressed the importance of our role in the caring for all of creation in our common home;

• our parish was just beginning to financially support a diocesan program in Pinetree, South Africa (just outside of Durban), known as the Masithuthukisane Community Organization, whereby community workers would instruct and support folks of their own diocese regarding the benefits of growing organic produce as a way to directly benefit their own population; 

• the Diocese of Victoria had similar programs that could directly benefit from the produce, particularly the Soup Kitchen at the Cathedral, and the Social Concerns Office (of the Society of St Vincent de Paul);

• we had some interested persons from our community willing to take on this project.

So, ...

• some Knights of Columbus from our parish help to prepare the garden and mark the rows in early May;

• all students at St. Joseph's Elementary School plant the potatoes, from PreSchool to Grade 7;

• student volunteers, parents and parishioners care for them over the summer months;

• the Grades 3 and 4 classes harvest the potatoes in September, often times with Bishop Gary and Father Alfie, our pastor;

• we named our garden the Masithuthu Garden to honour all of those involved with the Masithuthukisane Community Organization in the Diocese of Mariannhill, Pinetree, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa.