First Harvest for Casa Franciscana

On Earth Day 2022,we shared our new pilot project of home gardens.  The vision is that the fruit and vegetables will provide wholesome vitamin rich food for the family and to share with neighbors. Perhaps, in the future, they will grow large enough gardens to sell some of their produce to other villages.

One of the lessons learned was that the local rabbits and deer enjoy young seedlings. So the new farmers experienced an unintended consequence “in caring for creation”!! Wiring and netting was installed and this August the first crops were ready for harvest – corn, watermelon, carrots, squash.

If you ever grew anything yourself, you know the joy of watching it grow, picking it and eating it. The poor, who have very little to celebrate, are experiencing this sense of accomplishment. The produce is not  the vegetable remnants of the commercial growers but organic, fresh and their own.

This is another version of “if you give a man a fish (or vegetable), you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish (or farm), you feed him for a lifetime.”

As we wait for the fruit trees to produce their bounty, we thank you for supporting this project. Please pray for not only continued success but the ability to expand it to other families. God bless you and your generous hearts.