Church garden provides produce for soup kitchen
In the summer of 2004, Joy Neufeld opened the first soup kitchen in Steinbach. Fifteen years later, Soup’s On is still serving its community and is thriving. Neufeld, a member of Grace Mennonite Church in Steinbach, started the project because she loved working in the kitchen. “I just love cooking and baking, but the last…
‘Everything was getting better’
Before 2008, Victoria Mamani Sirpa had only ever cooked with four vegetables: carrots, chard, celery and onions. That soon changed after she and her family built a huerta (greenhouse) on their property with the help of Fundación Communidad y Axión (Community and Action Foundation), a Mennonite Central Committee partner that is working to improve access…
Students gain out-of-school experience
This past spring, students from Rockway Mennonite Collegiate’s Grade 8 class began participating in a new project whose goal is to build character, skills and perspective; and to create opportunity for students to serve our larger community. The students, led by science teacher Gail Snyder, extended their classroom learning by working alongside adults with intellectual…
Tending our mothers’ gardens
I am writing this column on Mother’s Day weekend. As I weed flowerbeds, memories of my hardworking mothers and their gardens dance in my head. Gram Miller—Anna Estelle—grew up in the mountains of West Virginia, in a large family that was intimately acquainted with poverty. Growing food was necessary for survival. I remember her planting…
Gardening delights over generations
With spring just around the corner, most of us are looking forward to seeing the last of the snow disappear as we savour warmer temperatures, longer days and shorter nights, and search for those first green shoots of crocuses, daffodils and tulips to emerge from wintry gardens. As a child I was always interested in…
