Ah, March! We are almost there, right? The days are noticeably longer and those tantalizing seed catalogues are arriving daily in the mail. Looking at those pictures of plump, red, juicy tomatoes and tender green beans bring back so many wonderful memories. One spring, on the farm in South Carolina we planted an acre of corn in one of the bottom fields at our farm. In just a few days those tiny, tender shoots appeared, and were quickly devoured by an army of deer in a single night. There wasn’t a plant left in sight! Discouraged, we replanted and tried parking our truck next to the field to intimidate the nocturnal marauders. It worked. The next year we planted black-eyed peas in the same field and made sure to plant enough for the deer to feast on, too. Turns out, they prefer corn. I had enough black-eyed peas to feed the entire county.

In South Carolina folks are already preparing the ground for spring crops in February. The old timers say never plant before Good Friday, but people do anyway. Spring comes early and things begin to bud. What a tease! Everybody rushes out to purchase the “first round” of plants to be carefully set out and nurtured for maybe a month before that last killer frost hits. Those remarkable and sassy early blooming tulip trees are no match for the frost and by noon they resemble naked ladies with a delicate blanket of petals lying at the base of their bare branches like a pair of fallen bloomers. It’s a gamble that gardeners take and often lose, but do they learn? Never! It’s too much fun and essential for the health and wealth of local nurseries that hurriedly stock up for a second round of garden enthusiasts. It’s the eagerness and optimism of spring that makes winter worth it, and if you beat Mother Nature that first ripe tomato will reach your lips as early as June as opposed to July. Ah, that first delectable tomato sandwich that’s so juicy you have to lean over the sink to eat it. There’s nothing quite like it. It’s such a long awaited delight that one friend of mine throws a huge tomato sandwich party every year providing bibs for her guests like the ones you get at restaurants when you order lobster. After living in Alaska for a couple of years my oldest son missed home grown tomatoes so much that he asked a friend to ship a box of vine-ripened tomatoes all the way to Seward. With shipping costs they must have been worth at least $3 apiece. This normally generous person informed his girlfriend that she was not to give a single of his South Carolina tomatoes to anyone she wouldn’t donate an organ to.

We have so many things to look forward to in Michigan: strawberries, blueberries, cherries, peaches, but I have to say that I miss that southern delicacy, Crowder peas. March 21st is the first day of spring but it has been known to frost as late as May. Old timers around here warn against planting before Memorial Day, but that won’t stop some of us from digging as soon as the ground thaws, will it?

Enough fantasizing! On to more pressing matters….

Beginning on March 25, 2007 People’s Church will begin a Split the Plate program. Split the Plate means that once a month, we will share our collection plate with a local non-profit organization. With the help of the Social Outreach Committee four organizations were selected: Habitat for Humanity, COVE, Community Table, and OPEN. Many UU Churches around the country have adopted this practice and by doing so have helped support many local charities.

I was first introduced to the practice while on my internship in 2003 in Austin, Texas. Of course, pledge payments are excluded from the split. A representative from the non-profit organization is invited to come and accept the donation and provide information about the work they are doing in our community. In almost every case, this program has been hugely successful. Many churches have increased their giving to sharing their offering every week and some are giving the entire offering away (minus pledges)! After a year, we will evaluate the program, decide whether or not to continue, and possibly select other organizations to include in our giving.

This is a wonderful way for us to help our community and live our Unitarian Universalist values. You can read an article about Split the Plate published in the UU World online at www.uuworld.org/2003/04/conglife.html. If you have any questions or concerns contact me at minister@charterinternet.com or 845-6493.

Now, back to the visions of vegetables that dance in my head…. is anyone interested in a community garden project?

Got rototiller?

In faith, Cathy