Loving Through Our Actions

    This morning, we reported for duty at Earthworks!

    Earthworks is a 2.5-acre urban farm, founded in 1997 by Brother Rick Samyn, a Capuchin friar who felt a calling to start a garden at his workplace, the Capuchin Soup Kitchen.  Brother Rick had witnessed many young people from the neighborhood buying their groceries at local gas stations, and wanted to help the youth understand what good food was, and where it came from.

     We learned from the friendly Earthworks staffers (Patrick, Tyler and Wendy) that Earthworks grew to include bee hives, a greenhouse, a hoop house for year-round production (for plants that do not require as warm of an environment), a community orchard, and community plots maintained by the locals.  Food yielded from the farm is provided to the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, transplanted into other Detroit community gardens, or sold at a weekly market stand to support the work of Earthworks.

    Earthworks has also developed a training program to teach Detroit residents the art of gardening, so that they can use their knowledge to teach others, and for the betterment of their neighborhoods.

     Our work today involved peeling lots and lots of garlic and making hundreds of tags for various plants. While we worked, Tyler from Earthworks and Rachel entertained us with lots of brainteasers and riddles. 

    We ate our lunch among the clients of Earthworks' adjoining Capuchin Soup Kitchen. This soup kitchen was started during the Great Depression by Capuchin priest, Father Solanus Casey, who is now recognized by the Catholic Church as "Blessed Solanus Casey."  

    Later, we enjoyed a simple dinner of Little Ceasars Pizza (a Detroit original!) and Katie treated us to a dessert of homemade cinnamon-sugar butter popcorn, which had a taste reminiscent of churros and snicker-doodle cookies.

   We concluded the evening with a group reflection on charity, social change, and the meaning of service. We agreed on a working definition of service: "loving others through our actions." All of us are grateful for the opportunity to love and serve together in a city with such a strong heart, filled with beautiful people. 

-Dave Slusarick