 July 6, 2011
The lettuce waiting to be served at the weekly Nebraska AIDS Project meal is fiercely protected. It has made it through rain, heat, weeds and the ever-present hungry rabbits in order to be tossed with dressing and await consumption.
Its protector is also its cultivator. Kevin Dorenbach is the head gardener of the Big Garden site tucked down in a grassy patch behind the Metropolitan Community Church in Omaha.
Nine raised beds are full of leafy green plants that have been neatly organized, carefully weeded and watered and tended to by Dorenbach’s watchful eye and resourcefulness.
The lettuce is just one of the crops that has benefited from his clever gardening designs. There is chicken wire carefully draped over the broccoli to give them a chance to grow back from the latest rabbit attack. The corn has been placed so as to help the squash growing in the center of its protective leaves.
“That’s one of the things about gardening, “ he says while describing his rabbit-proofing attempt, “It’s a live and learn thing.”
The community garden where Dorenbach tends to his plants began 3 years ago. As a part of The Big Garden, it was created in connection with Metropolitan Community Church. The Big Garden is a program of the non-profit organization United Methodist Ministries. It focuses on creating community gardens in Omaha and its surrounding areas. The gardens help to engage community members, provide nutritious food and encourage healthy eating habits.
Dorenbach became involved two years when the Nebraska AIDS Project took responsibility for the garden. He initially committed to gardening one of the raised beds. Before he knew what was happening, his work had come to encompass the entirety of the garden.
The Nebraska AIDS Project (NAP) is an organization of case management and connecting resources said Don Randolph, a NAP volunteer and former staff member. It helps clients to connect with the hospitals that see AIDS patients and to provide opportunities for education, community support and fellowship.
The weekly meal hosted at Metropolitan Community Church is the remnant of a program that used to provide meals five days a week for NAP clients. A lack of financial support has led to the downsizing.
“People are living longer [with the disease], it’s not as much of a catastrophe,” Randolph said. “People aren’t so willing to give. It’s not as glamorous to give to HIV/AIDS.”
As funding has decreased, the meals have been cut back to the weekly Friday meals now served at Metropolitan Community Church (MCC).
NAP and MCC have a long history of partnership. The church was one of the first to offer off-site AIDS testing for community members. Randolph credits the church’s longstanding commitment to serving the gay and lesbian community as the foundation for the ties that have kept them working together over the years.
A NAP client since 1999, Dorenbach spoke about the importance of the socializing that happens at the meals provided by volunteers, many of whom become an important part of their community.
On this particular Friday, the infamous Miss June was back to visit after a two-month hiatus from her normal volunteering duties. Dorenbach showed the garden off to her as she arrived, asking about her recent surgery and recovery and sharing about her faithful commitment and attendance at the weekly meals.
It is people like Miss June that create the community that forms each Friday at noon in the basement of the church building off of Leavenworth St.
“[NAP] has been a lifeline for me in a lot of ways,” Dorenbach said.
Other NAP clients and volunteers join the gathering happening in the garden, ignoring the possibility of bug bites and snakes to ask how the vegetables are growing, to laugh about the neighbor’s dog who keeps half-hearted watch and to ask once again which vegetables will grace the lunch table or to check what produce is nearing its harvest time.
Ron Psota, a fellow gardener with Dorenbach, is also out digging in the dirt. He is gathering the green tops of the radishes that have already been picked and given away.
A former Peace Corps volunteer in India and international student recruiter for a local university, Psota maintains strong connections with several refugee communities in the Omaha area. He’s recently discovered that the Bhutanese refugees love to eat the green radish tops that most Nebraskans throw away.
“It’s a constant learning process,” Psota says as he walks the garden perimeter and comments on the various vegetables being watered by Dorenbach.
The Bhutanese are just one of the groups that receive produce from the garden cared for by Psota, Dorenbach and other volunteers.
First priority goes to NAP clients and produce picked from the garden is made available to clients at the weekly meal for them to take home with them. Dorenbach often works in the garden during MCC worship services, so he also leaves produce inside the church for worship attendees to take. Some of the harvest makes its way to Dorenbach’s house as well as to an Alzheimer’s facility in West Omaha where his aunt lives.
The bounty is just beginning as summer rolls on, but there are no rabbits big enough to crush the gardening spirit of Dorenbach.
 The root of his agriculture skills goes back to childhood summers spent on his father’s farm outside of Lincoln. His first garden was in an abandoned horse corral where the natural fertilizer led to an “awesome garden.”
His grandparents were what Dorenbach calls garden people and his grandmother tended to the flowers while his grandfather cared for the vegetables.
“ I think agriculture is something passed down like green eyes,” he shared.
Hereditary trait or not, it’s clear that his early training has left him poised for the hours he spends in the beds of the NAP Big Garden. The rabbits’ tastes might be universal in their pursuit of green food, but they’ve got a dedicated foe working against them.
There is lunch to be had, stories to be shared and fellowship to enjoy. And it wouldn’t be the same without the lettuce.
To support the Big Garden and its work throughout Omaha, visit The Advance (www.theadvance.org) and donate using the Big Garden Advance number # 3021107.
-Written by Erin Eidenshink, United Methodist Ministries staff member
|
