I grew up in an urban setting. My father in his wisdom would send me off to his rural home during school holidays. There l stayed with my grandmother. Grandma’s home culture was abundance. It was only the two of us, but she made a huge calabash of a traditional brew called mahewu. She also made a humongous pot of mutakura – a mixture of par boiled dried maize, groundnuts, groundnuts, and black-eyed peas.

Her field was plentiful too. It was a rainforest of plants. Inside the maize field l would pick the thorny cucumbers, pumpkins, squash, beans, the African version black eyed peas, wild vegetables among many others…… Anyone who passed through grandma’s homestead was served generously from the calabash and off they went on their way. Some would stay longer for mutakura and help grandma weed before proceeding with their journey. During harvest time the calabash grew into a drum and the wholecommunity would gather to help grandma harvest. This tradition is called Nhimbe. If anyone in the village needed lots of workforce, they called for Nhimbe.

The Giving Garden is along 7th street, Central Hillside. Passersby stop by for the calabash too- be it the Lake Superior view from the elder’s benches, or quick tomato and cucumber snack or a reminisce with the gardener, or a quiet time soothed by the life and colors of the garden. Each plant, whether overbearing, short or creeping, confidently contributes to the abundant delight.

The Giving Garden is a space that continues to ask How do we "cross- pollinate" and enhance the community at large with our vision, our culture, our healthy food, our dedication to healing and regeneration in a communal, organic, way? The Giving Garden is intentionally modelled to revive community connection and intergenerational mentoring.

The Giving Garden calls for Nhimbes too. We had a Nhimbe with Denfeld High plant science class to clear and start the season – this year they will start our pollinator plants in their greenhouse, another Nhimbe with The College St. Scholastica Sustainability and Environment Students to build fences around the crop beds and clearing at the close of season. This year their Environmental Activism class has started for us some select seedlings in their greenhouse,

Another Nhimbe was with UMD Sustainability Class to spread woodchips and manure, yet another Nhimbe with Engineers Without borders building the rainwater harvesting facility -this year they are designing our Phase II of the garden project that includes a farm scale deep winter greenhouse.

The Giving Garden has taken the Nhimbe beyond the garden and the season, During the long winter months with our dried herbs, we partnered the children’s programming at Harbor Highlands where we taught them to make tea bags out of dried sweet stevia, peppermint and spearmint; and lip balms out of dried mint, lavender, calendula, basil, thyme and chamomile.

The culmination of all the Nhimbe’s happens with church barbeques in thegarden where our elders and seniors showcases the African American palate from the garden produce……

Nature in the garden epitomizes how diversity breeds plentifulness and appeal. In the picture native American borage, marigolds and sunflowers made a remarkable pollinator habitat. Boy what a tomato crop we had last summer when everyone else was struggling! We cannot wait for the approaching gardening season where we are adding Minnesota’s top five perennial pollinator plants to the pollinator habitat – milkweed, vernonia, anise hyssop, coneflower, and boneset

Pieces of the Creator we read in the natural world if we allow ourselves to pause and scrutinize God’s instructions on ideal living and relationships- where black, brown, white combined intellect and gifts are a formidable lifeforce.

The St Mark Giving Garden invites you to be part of our Nhimbe. Come and enjoy the garden. Contribute towards the Phase II of the garden. Come drink from the calabash and reminisce.