Ogden monastery grows crops, communities

OGDEN — Seeking to cultivate crops and hearts, volunteers gathered to bless a new community garden Friday amid the tranquil landscaping and marble statues of saints at Mount Benedict Monastery.

Dozens of smiling volunteers from Northern Utah Catholic Community Services, the St. Benedict's Foundation and Bank of Utah arrived with rolled-up sleeves and gardening gloves to break ground for "Sow For Humanity," a new project to provide fresh produce for elderly clients at the Joyce Hansen Food Bank.

"We felt this was a very easy way for the community to come together and build a garden that will provide fresh produce for our senior citizens at the food bank," said Marcie Valdez, director of Northern Utah Catholic Community Services. "Fresh produce is a rare commodity at the food bank. We have a lot of canned and dry food, but we see very little fresh fruits and vegetables."

The garden idea sprouted rapidly after Pam Parkinson, a Catholic Community Services advisory board member, said she wanted to start a garden for the needy.

"This is a generous community," Parkinson said. "We believed that if they know about (the project), they'll get involved."

Within two weeks, Parkinson brought the plan to fruition by securing donations of plants, soil, mulch, wood chips and other materials by J&J Nursery, Wheelwright Lumber, Enable Industries and the city of Ogden.

Sister Danile Knight, prioress of Mount Benedict Monastery who donated the monastery's land and water, blessed the garden that "God will share the gifts of the garden with those who are in need."

Sister Danile sees the garden as an extension of the monastery's existing humanitarian efforts.

"The sisters, through the (St. Benedict) foundation, already help 7,000 women and children every year," she said. "Now we are able to help the elderly and others through the food bank."

The "Sow For Humanity" garden uses Mel Bartholomew's innovative square-foot gardening technique. Corn, peppers, squash, carrots, strawberries and other plants are raised in four-foot, partitioned, rectangular wood boxes.

"The square-foot garden concept produces much more produce than a regular row garden," Valdez said. "This will be a high-yield garden that will require very little weeding, very little water, and it's the ideal way for us to launch this project."

Employees from Bank of Utah and other community members have offered their green thumbs to the project.