My Friend Bob and Sola Gratia Farm!

Some of you know that one of our dearest, dearest friends, Bob Rasmus, is the pastor of St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Urbana, or "Bob's Place," as the boys referred to it when they were little.  I'm not a member of St. Matthew's but you could certainly call me a friend of St. Matthew's---and I am always impressed with their warm and thoughtful support of social values that I believe in.

So I am WAY excited about their newest venture, Sola Gratia Farm!!  

Here is some of the story:

• Sola Gratia Farm is a community-based farm enterprise dedicated to producing locally-grown, high-quality, natural produce. Responding to the Gospel, the Farm is committed to helping those who lack adequate food resources by donating ten percent of its produce to support regional hunger programs. The Farm promotes healthy lifestyles and community building through education, service and outreach programs.
• Sola Gratia Farm is a four-acre community garden located behind St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Urbana, Il.  Sola Gratia Farm developed out of a joint vision with St. Matthew Lutheran Church of Urbana, which owns the land, and an organization called Faith in Place, whose fundamental ministry is aiding communities of faith develop responsible and sustainable practices.
• Sola Gratia is Latin for ‘by grace alone,’ and arose as a rallying cry of the Reformation. Its original context asserts that our salvation is the work of Christ alone, which we receive as a gift of grace. That is the spirit of this farm. We acknowledge that this land is a gift from God and are now committed to sharing its bounty with our immediate community in the form of fresh, naturally produced vegetables available to shareholders, and with the commitment to share at least ten percent of the farm’s production with the Eastern Illinois Food Bank and other hunger abatement programs. As we receive in grace, so we share in grace.
• The Farm will also be a venue for teaching the values of stewardship and the care of creation, for community building through volunteer opportunities, field days and an annual harvest festival, for strengthening the link between farmer and consumer, and for lifting up our responsibilities to one another, especially those who suffer from inadequate food resources or hunger.

I love the way this brings together the beliefs and goals of the church, the community, the opportunity to provide fresh produce---something food banks are often short on, the move toward sustainability---both spiritually and well....physically.  Is this the coolest thing?  Remember, 10% will go to the foodbank and you can contribute part of your share as well.  I love it!

Ernie and I are going to buy a half share and I'm going to share my experiments and recipes with the produce here on my blog.  As always, I will have successes and failures but I'm excited and looking forward to having kind of a regular feature to play with.

You can download their produce plan to see what you can expect: Download 2012 Produce Plan and there will be opportunities to get involved and volunteer if you are interested.  Here's the schedule for this month: Download Sola Gratia Events Calendar 2012.

You can find more on their website and their facebook page.  I'm excited about this and proud of Bob and the work he does---and of all that are involved with this as well.

Oh, and their farmer is even cute too!