Harvesting produce and community

By Deb Silverthorn

“Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow. All it takes is a rake and a hoe and a piece of fertile ground,” sang the late John Denver. Temple Shalom’s Justice Garden,  a space of fertile ground, provides produce, education and inspiration to its members and the greater community.

“We have such a beautiful and hearty landscape and we want to contribute to the world around us,” said Gretchen Reynolds, who with Stuart Marcus and Karen Stock co-chairs Temple Shalom’s Justice Garden Committee. “The more that comes from it nourishing and helping others, the greater our impact.

“The ‘farm’ as it’s called, is a way to lean in and live our core values,” said Reynolds, who holds a professional certificate from the New York Botanical Garden and is one of several master gardeners involved. “As our own microbiome grows, there will be more we can serve.”

Justice Garden leaders trained with the Texas A&M Agri-Life extension office. They learned how to build soil, plant seedlings and seeds; how to tend plants; and how gardens address food justice and ecological justice.

Dedicated last December, the Justice Garden will ultimately grow as many of the seven species indigenous to Israel — wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates — as possible.

What began in 2022, with 12 beds, has grown with the support of many including the Dallas Council on Jewish Scouting, the Jewish Farmer Network, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the North Texas Food Bank, the Union for Reform Judaism’s Religious Action Center’s Kraus Initiative for Immigrant and Refugee Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Ecology, education, wellness and food justice are the garden’s foundation. Volunteers work every Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday. More than 400 pounds have been harvested this year. In May alone, from more than 60 planters including several with wheelchair access, 62 pounds of potatoes, greens, herbs, beans, carrots and more were given to Dallas College and another 130 pounds to the Church of the Transfiguration.

“Everything about this is intentional and sustainable,” said Jamie Palefsky, NTFB’s nutrition education specialist. “We’re making connections for those experiencing food injustice, providing outlets for nutrition education and coordinating cooking classes using items from the garden.”

Palefsky added that she hopes the Justice Garden will be a model for other food banks and community gardens around the country. It is part of Feeding America, a national network. “Our (NTFB’S) relationship with Dallas College allows for the distribution to onsite food pantries at area colleges,” said Palefsky.

Temple Shalom has brought opportunities for the garden to its partnership with Refugee Services of Texas, through which it teaches English as a Second Language. Participants work the garden, learn English and benefit from its yield.

Upcoming opportunities include participating in a food-as-medicine project. Set amid the Dallas and Richardson school districts, which serve many food-insecure children and families, the garden grows the tenets of tikkun olam, repairing the world, and chesed, compassion for its neighbors.

For Reynolds, both the wellness factor of being in the open and working the land and the food and nutrition aspect are enhanced through socialization and connections to a common goal.

“Working together and seeing every bit that happens in and because of the garden, is awesome,” she said. “The gift from God that the garden gives back is extraordinary and a beautiful exchange of effort, ideas and truly rich learning.”

Debbie Niederman, Temple Shalom’s director of education, also believes in the outdoor power of healing and coming together to create. She is formulating educational components for volunteers, Religious and Sunday School students and the public.

“We have many opportunities to learn as we are, literally, growing our curriculum,” said Niederman. “Gretchen has opened doors we didn’t know existed and we are excited to walk through them together.”

Niederman explained that the lifecycle of the garden connects us to the Jewish calendar, allowing Temple Shalom to feature the agriculture in its celebrations. The Sisterhood used flowers from eggplants for centerpieces at its Woman of Valor event and a ladies’ tea was hosted in the space. The Brotherhood built the congregation’s sukkah in the garden and adorned it with homegrown corn stalks; holiday meals included its herbs and vegetables.

For Passover, lettuce and parsley were used on the congregation’s Seder plates. For Shavuot, Temple Shalom’s Rabbi Andrew Paley spoke about the 10 Teachings of Environmental Stewardship, in which he included “wasteful consumption is prohibited,” “prayers and blessings are an expression of environmental stewardship,” “creation is awe-inspiring” and “don’t break God’s world.”

While the idea of a garden first arose more than a decade ago, Paley says it took Reynolds’ joining the congregation, her initiative and the support of many to make it happen.

“The vision and understanding of what it means to ‘engage in a most thoughtful way’ is seen in our small farm,” he said. “This is a great example of connecting our Jewish story through community. As a congregation, we laid our roots nearly 60 years ago and today we are hands in the dirt continuing that pledge.

“In Genesis, we read that ‘God places Adam in the Garden of Eden to till and to tend it,’ with humans meant to be caretakers of the world. In our Justice Garden, that happens daily,” Paley continued. “We are living the words of our Torah, harvesting the beauty and taking in the majesty around us.”

As a community, within its own walls and expanding beyond, Niederman says the Justice Garden allows anyone in its realm to “connect in so many ways and to experience Judaism, one another and life, in a new way.”

For more information, visit templeshalomdallas.org/garden-community. To volunteer or make a donation to Temple Shalom’s Justice Garden, email garden@templeshalomdallas.org.