Too Many Chiefs.............

As I type that title I remind myself of the offense I took to it when the gentleman I am supposed to deal with at the church replied that to an email regarding members of the church taking charge and giving orders in MY garden. Too many chiefs........hmmmmmmm. I will get back to why I took offense to that, but let me first give you the short version of the story. My presentation in August seems to be turning into what NOT to do when working in collaboration to eradicate hunger.

I started this project back in January. Laid out all my plans and didn't get the ok to move forward until mid april. Yes, mid april. I should have been tilled, mounded and planted by then. We agreed it was my garden on the condition the harvest went to their food pantry and any overage was my choice where to donate. I was told there were other churches that wanted to be involved and promised all sorts of donations and materials. But most important Tom (name changed) made me promise him to not exclude anyone; go out of my way to include all! Ummmm, excuse me Tom, did you read my mission statement that I gave you three months ago........obviously not.

Me.........I am a single mom going to graduate school that has now taken on an acre and a half garden that is 70 miles round trip..............I have a super strong faith in the Creator. I believe I do his work with my hands in the dirt. I feel a closeness to him when that sun is beating down on me and I am dirty head to toe knowing all my sweat that drips off my brow gives these plants my love to grow strong and feed all His people. I understand how people become so overwhelmed in their faith to speak in tongues.........my faith allows me to speak to His creatures while I work His land. The church I am working in collaboration with is a Mission Christian church...........................outwardly I am known as the weird barefoot hippie that wears rings on her toes, has too many bumper stickers on her car that boogies in the garden with bright pink headphones and has too many tattoos. I really want to hula hoop in my garden, but then they might really think I am certifiable. I try to live the Native way; that is where the offense of too many chiefs comes from. They see me as a pagan that needs to be saved. How do I see (g)od in a tree? .................How do they NOT see (g)od in a tree? But most of all they cannot see we serve the same (g)od and want to feed His people.

So................fast story................To quote Beck "I worked the fields til the sun went down" all by myself some days. I have maybe 80 volunteer hours logged, from 6 different people. I would say 30-40 of those hours have been hours of MASS DESTRUCTION!!!!! I have had people in the garden without contacting me first; making their own decisions. Over half my garden has been destroyed by people tilling thinking the best way to weed is to till (I will post pics of all this). I have had people harvesting the wrong times of day killing entire crops and leaving me feeling a bit like Henni Penni! Worst of all no one is weighing it for me. I have had minimal donations (most of it coming out of my pocket, except for the seeds and hay), still waiting on a water source~ was promised a massive water storage thingy that was to be delivered the end of May.........I water each plant individually with a wagon and a tote filled with water......remember this is an acre and a half............I have yet to have a meet and greet with the church.....maybe because I am a freak (to them).......not one workshop has been scheduled............my transportation to include WIC participants is never available..............I have yet to receive their tax exempt id so I can have fiscal sponsorship while I wait for my status to be approved (this prevents alot of grants)............... I have even had members of the church secretly donate their weekly tithe to the garden (you can declare where in the church your 10% goes)..................i haven't seen a cent.

Then the name of the garden....................remember I was given the speech of it being all inclusive right............I had been told the name had agreed to be Field of Grace ~ perfect...........the name of the church is Grace Brethren and it still leaves it open to all without religious influence. The day the tomatoes were delivered I was informed the name was NOT field of grace but God's Garden.............oh crap.........the dreaded interfaith dialogue I now have to have with a driven Mission Christian..............excuse me please, it would be easier for me to go throw up now. I took a deep breath and remained calm. It had been my covert operation to prove to this church that those who did not believe as they did were still good people and we connected on the simplest levels.............the conversation couldn't have gone worse and I actually contemplated doing something drastic like puking or wetting my pants just to get away from the damnation I was taking at that moment. Grandfather? Why they hell do you call Him grandfather, well that's just absurd. Why can't (g)od be in the name of the garden, it's cuz of him it's all happening.............i try to interject............but we don't all call him (g)od. We speak different languages while we all believe in the same (g)od. What the hell you talkin about..............we had some of them muslims here, but they chose to never come back cuz we made them pray to Jesus with us to get their food..........that's why we are a 501 (c) 4 so we have that right to pray. So we can let all know the way to heaven is through the Lord our Jesus Christ...............my head is screaming isn't that idolatry?!?!??!?! Lord is (g)od. Jesus was His Son. His prophet..........but I stay quiet.............my urge to scream Jesus would have loved me just the way I am, why can't you?...............again I stay quiet and try to gently explain to simply leave language out of it. Welcome all remember.

So I blog not to complain, but to give a story to those who have my same passion to feed the hungry of the world. I am looking for my own land with my own building. I will finish the season because it is not the hungry's fault I am being taken advantage of, but I will not return to that land next year. Hopefully some rich benefactor will see my passion and give me 20 acres with a house and barn to recreate Dohi-Utsi (healthy peaceful mother)...........my half way house for single moms to learn self sufficiency and natural living.............my original idea.