ST. CATHARINES, ONT.—Since 2016, Grace Mennonite Church has run an outreach program to provide garden space for church members, newcomers to Canada and church neighbours who didn’t have any room for a garden of their own. This year, Jan and Laur Steven, with the help of their grandson Jasper, manage three of the 12 garden boxes, one for themselves and two for the residents of the Grace-Linwell Retirement Community. Seeds and plants were donated this spring, including beans, tomatoes, lettuce and cauliflower. When the vegetables are ripe, the Stevens harvest them and deliver them to the seniors building, where anyone can help themselves to the produce at no charge. Jan calls the produce given away “notes of love.”
—By Maria H. Klassen
Laur and Jasper Steven work in Grace Mennonite Church’s community garden in St. Catharines, Ont. (Photo by Jan Steven)
