A Beautiful, Bountiful Harvest
Each Saturday morning from September 5th to November 21st, dozens of volunteers, over a hundred guests, and several hundred pounds of colorful produce filled the Redeemer parking lot. This all came as a part of a free farmers market which was hosted by the church’s New Garden Park Farm.
Each person who arrived was treated as a beloved guest and was able to select $30 worth of fresh, sustainably grown produce, meat, and eggs, all at no cost. They could also visit additional booths for pancakes, coffee from Special Blend, or to receive prayer from members of Redeemer’s prayer team.
The vision for this free farmers market initially came at the beginning of 2020, when the NGP Farm team went on a January prayer retreat. During this retreat, team members split up into small groups to pray and seek discernment on a theme and Scripture passage which they should focus on for each season of the year. Lena Van Wyk, the Farm Director, was praying with Gia Lineberry, the Farm Business Manager, and a farm volunteer about the fall season. Both a theme of healing and the passage of Isaiah 55 came to mind--specifically the first verse of this passage, which reads, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” This led them to the thought of a farmers market, but they tabled it for a few months.
In the past few years, the Greensboro-High Point area has ranked 14th on the The Food Research & Action Center's register for national food hardship rates. Over 19% of the population in this area was struggling with food hardship. However, when COVID-19 hit at the beginning of this year, the overall need almost tripled.
This emergency brought the idea of the free market back to NGP Farm staff members’ minds, but they weren’t sure initially how they would pull it off financially. Then Ryan Kildoo suggested something which he thought just might do the trick. Ryan, a deacon at Church of the Redeemer, also works as an accountant for the county—he let Lena know about a grant which she could apply for from the CARES Act. Funds were moving quickly, so in the process of just 24 hours Lena and Gia wrote the grant, had it edited by Jennifer Lewis (a Redeemer member who works in non-profit), and submitted it for review and approval.
They heard back several months later that they received it, but this wasn’t until July. As soon as the farm’s Church Supported Agriculture (CSA) program was finished, the race was on. “I think we all felt a little panicky in August about whether we were going to be able to do it well and if the details were going to come together,” Lena explained. The farm team spent the entire month of August detail planning and marketing, and things did come together. They were even able to receive some extra funds—in addition to the $28,500 which they received from the CARES Act grant, the Guilford County Department of Health donated another $3000. The Greensboro News and Record also caught wind of their plans for the free farmers market and published an article advertising it. Several people who were entirely external from Redeemer and NGP Farm read the article and sent in funds to support the cause--this added up to a few thousand more dollars which could be used to purchase supplies for the market.
The first market was held on a sunny Saturday, September 5th. “Every week that we did it, it got easier and easier, because it became more familiar and we had routines,” Lena explained. On the Tuesday before each market, she and Gia would meet to discuss ordering the produce depending upon that week’s funds and what was popular the previous week. On Fridays, Julia Myhre, the Assistant Farm Manager, would drive the farm’s trailer around the Triad and Triangle area to pick up the produce from partnering farms while Lena stayed at NGP to oversee harvesting there. Beginning Saturday morning at 8am, two hours before the market’s opening time, 30-40 volunteers would set up each of the market booths with beautiful tablecloths, carefully arranged produce, and neatly crafted signage.
“I think the beautiful thing about fresh produce is that it is beautiful. It comes in all colors, shapes, sizes, and when you put it all together, it makes people feel joyful. They see that we don’t just have a creator God who feeds us, but feeds us in beauty and miraculous diversity and abundance, and it does feel like a reminder of the heavenly.”
Lena explained that this focus on the display of beauty was intentional. “I think a lot of food banks are places of shame, but the Isaiah 55 passage reminds us that we are all recipients of God’s grace. Needy or unneedy--that dichotomy breaks down in the gospel.” Keeping the beauty of God’s creation central at the market was important in order to foster this environment of welcoming love rather than of shame. “I think the beautiful thing about fresh produce is that it is beautiful. It comes in all colors, shapes, sizes, and when you put it all together, it makes people feel joyful. They see that we don’t just have a creator God who feeds us, but feeds us in beauty and miraculous diversity and abundance, and it does feel like a reminder of the heavenly. I always think back to that vision of the Garden of Eden when we are given every good thing to eat.” Her heart for everyone coming to and volunteering at the market was for them to feel the same.
Many who came to the market did feel this atmosphere of welcoming love and grace. “It was a time of encounter with people,” Lena explained. One woman who came to the market felt so impacted by its mission that she brought her 3 boys out to help harvest for weeks afterward. Another came up to Lena with tears in her eyes. She explained to Lena that she had always helped out at church food banks, but never been a recipient at one before. “She told me how loved she felt by the market, and how it was a place of equality.”
NGP Farm worked with 12 other farms to source the produce, meat, and eggs for the market. Like those attending the market, many of these farmers also described the market as a blessing. “During this time when their income streams were affected, especially due to COVID-19, several farmers expressed their thanksgiving for the market providing a steady income stream,” Gia explained. One farmer from Forsyth, Vern Switzer, prayed with the farm team on their first week of picking up supplies for the market. Another farmer, Lisa Dillon, even donated lots of her hydroponic lettuce because she was so excited to hear about the ways God was working to bless people through the market.
During of the first 11 weeks, there were just enough supplies for all the guests who came. “I think the feeding of the 5000 with the loaves and fishes--having just enough for what was needed--was a sign of the heavenly,” Lena explained. However, the last market was a bit reminiscent of the feeding of the 5000 in John 6. During this last market, which was a special Thanksgiving market, there wasn’t just enough--there were even leftovers after all of the guests had come and been satisfied.
“I think if we are willing participants, and we really pray earnestly for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven, as we say in the Lord’s prayer, then God wants to honor and give us that.”
Over the course of the market, NGP Farm contributed about 1,475 pounds to the market, in addition to the thousands of other pounds from other farms. Over $29,000 of fresh produce, meat, and eggs were given away, and the farm team estimates that somewhere between 1000-1300 families received and were fed by these sustainably grown, nutrient-dense foods. “It’s one of the privileges of being a Christian--getting to participate in God’s kingdom and experience things like this,” Lena reflected. “Because I think if we are willing participants, and we really pray earnestly for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven, as we say in the Lord’s prayer, then God wants to honor and give us that. That’s His desire.”
The farm team knows that the need for food will continue to be present. They will persist in partnering with God in His kingdom work of caring for people, and they hope to host the farmers market in the years to come as a way to continue doing this.
