![\"Allied](\"https:\/\/missiontimescourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/garden2.jpg\")
<\/a>Fry is the pastor of Ascension Lutheran Church.<\/p>\n
You might recall some months ago, when we covered a story about a small food bank he built alongside his property on 51st Street \u2014 a place where people who needed food could come and take what they needed.<\/p>\n
It was a start, but Fry has dreamed of a garden where people could get involved in providing fresh-grown food.<\/p>\n
On April 7, the initial planting in that garden happened, with a goodly crowd of church members and Allied Gardens citizens looking on and helping out.<\/p>\n
The event also featured a table was set up by the Allied Gardens Benjamin Branch Library offering, among other things, little square cartons with seeds that children might want to plant in a planter box for the garden. People who brought trees for planting also gave out Frisbees for children to play with \u2014 making it a real community affair.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis project just sort of took off after word got out about what we were trying,\u201d Fry said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had donations from places you might not expect \u2014 other area churches have donated money, especially Mission Trails Church, companies like Brightview Landscaping \u2014 the list goes on, and we\u2019re very grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shain Haug of the Allied Gardens Community Council says his group is very supportive of the effort.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really good to see this happen \u2014 I just wish it could be even bigger,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n It very possibly could be.<\/p>\n The Latter Day Saints ward just north of the current garden has a good deal of land it hasn\u2019t used for years, and there have been serious talks about making at least some of that land available for the garden\u2019s use.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a decision that would ultimately have to be made in Salt Lake City, but the possibility is there.<\/p>\n No one believes the Lutheran church can maintain the garden by itself, so there\u2019s a way to help if you want.<\/p>\n You could lease a 4-by-10-foot plot in the garden for $100 a year, or you could maintain a fruit tree for $150 a year.<\/p>\n That goes all the way up to a golden sunflower patch for $1,000 a year.<\/p>\n The church needs a couple hundred feet of fencing, several garden hoses, shovels and hoes.<\/p>\n There will always be a need for willing people to come in and actually work in the garden, and Fry said he knows lots of people who like to grub in the dirt.<\/p>\n These days, there is a constant debate about what being a Christian really means \u2014 and who knows how many answers to that question.<\/p>\n This garden, and what it will provide to needy people, is as good a definition of Christianity as you\u2019re going to find.<\/p>\n