Community Garden Under Construction at St. Timothy’s

   Community Garden Under Construction at St. Timothy’s              

What can you do with an unused backyard lot? Plant a garden! St. Timothy’s church, with the help of a generous grant from the Episcopal Foundation of Northern California, is transforming the lot next door to the church on the Jackson Street (behind the church office) into a garden for community use, a place to grow food or learn how to garden, a peaceful outdoor space for people to enjoy.              

The idea for a community garden at St. Timothy’s began in 2015 with the Gridley Community Roots Garden, which closed in 2018. The church’s new plan for relaunching the garden in 2023 includes 20 individual garden plots, a teaching garden, a children’s garden and mud kitchen, a greenhouse, compost bins, fruit trees, an outdoor sink and potting area as well as shaded seating, a fountain and pleasant surroundings for those who gather.             

UC Master Gardeners of Butte County have agreed to offer gardening classes, and St. Timothy’s hope is to eventually have cooking and preserving classes in the kitchen as well as a gardening program for children.

Parishioners and volunteers are giving their energy and skills to make this vision a reality, and more volunteers are needed, no experience required! Work began in July 2022 with cleaning out the lot. Leveling and grading with the skid steer was donated by Ronnie Johnson and Nick Neito.   Useable lumber leftover from the first garden was repurposed into a new potting bench, outdoor sink and children’s mud kitchen by the skilled hands of Kathy Mahannah, who also created the beautiful, hand-crafted welcome sign for the garden.   During the hot days of August and September, the ground was watered thoroughly and then solarized by covering it with clear plastic to kill weed seeds and any pathogens in the soil.     After accomplishing some repairs on existing water lines, work began in October on trenching for the new underground irrigation system for the garden. Many thanks to volunteer Matthew Norby, Kathy Mahannah and Grace Mahannah for their hours of faithful shoveling! St. Timothy’s church also provided for a new chain link fence to replace the old wooden one.      

 Work began in November to cut and glue together PVC pipe to construct the underground drip irrigation for the garden, November 13, 2022, Bishop Megan of the Diocese of Northern California visited St. Timothy’s and blessed the garden. Hallelujah!            

The irrigation system is now finished, and work will commence on building garden beds in March. Volunteers are needed, and all are welcome! You don’t need any special skills or gardening experience…just come and check out what’s happening at St. Timothy’s. Please email Grace at gracemahannah@gmail.com for more information.