Shelbina parishioners cultivate healthy food, Christian witness with Community Garden
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Locals donate seeds, fertilizer and other necessities, the parish provides the land and a water tap, and parishioners put in the work.
God does the rest.
That’s the premise of the Shelbina Community Garden, located behind St. Mary Parish’s Fr. Buhman Center.
“You don’t have to be Catholic to help out or take what you need,” said Father Bill Peckman, pastor of the Shelbina parish and of Immaculate Conception Parish in Macon and the Mission of Sacred Heart in Bevier.
“But the whole town knows it’s on our property and is sponsored by the Catholics,” he said. “When you do something like this, low-key and at the local level, it speaks more eloquently than a thousand homilies.”
Parishioners Pat and Laura Greenwell helped get the garden started four years ago.
The lot was a big empty field, “just something to mow,” said Mrs. Greenwell.
“Fr. Bill said, ‘We have this wonderful space,’” she recalled. “‘Wouldn’t it be great to have a garden that brings everybody together?’”
So, the first year, they sent out word and thought to themselves, “Let’s see who shows up to plant a garden.”
People brought tools and big ideas, and the garden came into being.
The following year, Mr. Greenwell suggested getting a little more organized.
Mrs. Greenwell helped him come up with a plan and a schedule for the volunteers.
“You can get a lot done with a small group of volunteers if you have it planned well from the beginning,” she noted.
Throughout spring and summer and deep into the fall, people come by to gather such succulent delicacies as fresh tomatoes, green beans, peppers, watermelons, zucchini and butternut squash.
“Sometimes, we have whole families come and pick things,” said Mr. Greenwell.
“It’s always a blessing to think you can go there and pick whatever you can use,” Mrs. Greenwell added. “People come by and say, ‘Can anybody pick this?’ and we say, ‘Of course! Help yourself!’”
More than a few come back to say how much they enjoyed what they got to take home with them.
About 300 families came and harvested something from the garden last summer.
That number will likely go up this year before cold weather sets in.
Clients of the nearby Shelby County Food Pantry know where the garden is and that they can help themselves to whatever they want.
Fr. Peckman believes that’s exactly what Bishop (now Archbishop) Shawn McKnight, who led the diocese from 2018-2025, meant when he talked about parishes being universally recognized as “centers of charity and sanctuaries of mercy.”
“I’m extremely proud of everyone’s efforts and also the result,” the priest stated.
Planting and reaping
The Greenwells are avid gardeners and enjoy being outside.
They typically spend between 12 and 15 hours a week watering and weeding in the Community Garden.
“We don’t have any crop ground at home, just hay and pasture,” said Mr. Greenwell. “So, this is kind of like our farming operation.”
“It gives Pat and me a chance to spend some time together,” said Mrs. Greenwell. “Even though he’s usually at one end of the garden and I’m at the other!”
This spring and early summer brought an abundance of rain.
“We’ve been very blessed,” said Mrs. Greenwell. “There were several weeks when no one had to water. But now, we’ve been watering almost every night to keep everything growing like it’s supposed to.”
Many hands make for light work.
“It’s definitely a team project,” said Mrs. Greenwell. “Which is good, because Pat and I can’t do it all ourselves.”
Three women take care of the watering on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. The Greenwells fill in on the rest of the days if they think the plants need more water.
“We have a parishioner from Macon and another from Shelbina who bring their tiller out there and work it up really well in the spring,” said Mr. Greenwell. “We’ve also got a garden tiller that we bought with a grant, and we keep it here in the shed.”
Another group planted the tomatoes, squash and other plants this spring.
“I send out a message, ‘Can you come and help on such-and-such date?’” said Mrs. Greenwell. “We have anywhere from two to six besides Pat and me who come and plant things.”
Most, but not all, are St. Mary parishioners.
“We never turn anyone away!” Mrs. Greenwell noted.
Planting takes place several times each season.
“We plant some of our raised beds two or three different times with different vegetables,” said Mrs. Greenwell. “You try to use your space wisely. You can plant radishes in the spring, and in a few months, you can change to green beans.”
All who hunger
Mrs. Greenwell keeps the Shelbina Community Garden’s Facebook page up to date, letting followers know which vegetables are ripe for picking.
She sees the Community Garden as a perpetual learning experience.
“You try something and maybe it doesn’t work out as well as you like, but you try something else and it works out really great,” said Mrs. Greenwell.
The parish applied for a Charity and Mercy grant from Catholic Charities of Central and Northern Missouri (cccnmo.org) and an MU Extension grant to pay for raised plant beds.
Raised beds facilitate harvesting while also helping the plants weather the first frosts of autumn.
“It makes it easier to pick the vegetables without crawling on the ground,” Mrs. Greenwell noted. “Not all of us are as young as we used to be!”
Farmers and the owners of a local greenhouse donated seeds and leftover plants at the end of the year.
Others donated plants, seeds, fertilizer, topsoil, compost, manure, and wood to fill the raised beds.
There were also donations of straw, fence posts, cattle panels and tomato cages.
The Greenwells use only natural products instead of chemicals to keep weeds and insects in check.
“I’m afraid of people being allergic or getting sick,” Mr. Greenwell stated. “So, we have to use all organics.”
They use neem oil to control insects and salt and vinegar to control weeds.
“We use a fertilizer that’s high in phosphate and produces a lot of blooms and a big root system,” said Mr. Greenwell.
Neighbors’ dogs tend to scare the hungry deer away from the garden.
“But the rabbits!” said Mr. Greenwell. “We do get a lot of rabbits.”
Grasshoppers sometimes pose a challenge.
“There’s nothing non-chemical you can use to get rid of them at this point,” said Mrs. Greenwell. “They eat whatever they eat, and hopefully there’s enough left that people can eat, too.”
Sowing seeds
Parishioner Carrie Ellison wrote the requests for the MU Extension grants for the raised plant beds.
“These didn’t cost us a dime,” Mr. Greenwell noted. “We put them together out here. We’re hoping to get eight more this fall.”
He gives a lot of thought to producing as large of a yield and feeding as many people as possible.
“And I want it to look good,” he added. “It’s a reflection of the parish and the people who’ve worked on it.”
He noted the first hard frost in late October or sometime in November will signal the close of this year’s harvest.
“The beans will be the first to go once it hits,” he said. “We’ll still have a lot of tomatoes that will survive past that. All the root plants will be okay in those raised beds because they’re underground.”
Last year, people were still picking tomatoes and radishes in November.
“It really depends on the weather,” he said. “If you keep the soil in those raised beds moist and full of water, the roots won’t freeze because it keeps the cold air from getting to the roots.”
Once winter sets in, volunteers will take down the panels, put them in storage, add the leftover plants to the compost pile and have the city turn off the water for the season.
The Greenwells believe any parish in the diocese could host its own community garden.
“It doesn’t need to be as big as ours,” said Mrs. Greenwell. “Not everyone has the space.
“You could focus on growing things in raised beds — maybe green beans and tomatoes and peppers,” she said.
She suggested researching plants and what they need ahead of time and coming up with a plan to take care of them all season.
Fr. Peckman said he believes the Shelbina Community Garden has been positive for the town, “and the town has taken ownership of it and sees it as part of the local narrative.”
“So, it’s doing exactly what it’s designed to do,” he said.
He pointed out how expensive it’s getting for people to eat fresh fruits and vegetables.
“People often eat junk food because they can’t afford healthy food,” he stated. “What we’re doing here is giving options for those who want options. And from what we’ve seen, a lot of people do.”
There’s still plenty of room on the property. Parishioners hope eventually to add an orchard of fruit trees and berry bushes.
“We put strawberry plants in last year and only got a few strawberries this year, because it takes two years,” the priest noted.
“With an orchard, we know it will be four or five years before it produces any fruit,” he said. “So, it’s clear we’re looking at the long term.”
