New Garden Next: Land Expansion

written by Lena Van Wyk, Farm Director

I often walk the 9 acres of land that our church (Lord willing) will own this November, praying and thinking aloud about what possibilities are in store for us on this land. It’s land that has so many inherent gifts for our Parish-Park-Farm-Abbey model. It’s large enough that we have plenty of space for all four expressions of our Christian community, with 1.8 acres for park land, 1.75 acres for our market farm, 1.5 acres for abbey development, and 1.2 acres for the parish. The remaining 2.7 acres is under gravel road and parking areas. Granted, all of these acres will be shared by all entities: the parish eats from the farm, plays in the park, participates in the abbey, etc. But you get the picture: there’s space for all parts of our community to grow and sink down roots. 

The 1.8 acres of park land will include the grassy lot by the front parking lot, to the right of our church entrance, which will become an enclosed youth playing field. It will also include the 1 acre undeveloped area in the middle of the property behind the Grove, which will be transformed over the years into a true park space, with a mix of trees, grass, gardens, and play space. We are also dreaming of an outdoor kitchen area with a pizza oven so that we can host more communal meals and cookouts on our land. Our longing for these places are that they become places of peace, Sabbath rest, and deep relationship that comes from delighting with one another in God’s beautiful world. We are praying for folks who are passionate about this park vision to come alongside our park director MacEntyre and make this dream a reality. 

The 1.75 acres of farm land is the ideal size for a small, intensive market garden (according to the copious amounts of podcasts I listen to). It will include the current Revelation garden (by the greenhouse), 5 hoop houses, and 1.5 acres of cultivated fields in the bottom of our land by the woods. I have learned that between 1-2 acres is the sweet spot for most small, no-tillage vegetable farms that don’t use tractors. By growing lots of vegetables and flowers in a small space year round, farms this size are able to glean as much net income as conventional commodity farms that farm thousands of acres, because input costs are so low and produce value so high. Our hopes are that our farm ministry can become financially strong and will be able to sustain itself financially well into the future, so that we can continue to feed our parish and those in need in Greensboro and live into the ministry of table fellowship and hospitality that God is calling us to.  

The 1.5 acres of abbey land include several nice office spaces and a large warehouse building that we will continue to rent out to businesses, in the hope of hosting more and more ‘business as mission’ ventures on this property as part of our Abbey vision. This includes space for Combat Female Veterans Families United, New Wineskin Missionary Network, Always Forward, Center for Contemplative Living, and much more. It also includes a large swath of land in the back of our property by the woods, not suitable for farming, that perhaps could be the home of the Benedictine monastic tiny house community that Abbot Dan Nobles is planning and fundraising for (this project is still pending city and church approval and will require lots of prayer). 

The 1.2 acres of parish land include our Sanctuary, Greenhouse, Grove, courtyards and surrounding fellowship area, which is addressed in our other posts on The Grove and the covered walkway.

The land comes with many challenges, such as the copious amounts of unneeded gravel impeding both the farm and park visions, but no good work of the Church does not come with challenges. The fertility of our current Revelation garden shows me the power of God to redeem land and make deserts into places of abundant life. As Psalm 104 says, “When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.” The challenges are small compared to the true gift of having such an accessible property close to the city center where we can partner with God to be a place of rich hospitality that points to his glory.