Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76Plough Quarterly • Summer 2015 61 neighbors. While much of the produce stays within the com- munity, we’ve also been growing a business, which now makes around $5000 a year. We raise and sell seedlings to individuals and businesses, and our honey is on supermarket shelves seventy-five miles away, in Raleigh. The money goes to school supplies and scholarships. Now that more of our youth are graduating from high school and going on to college, it’s been put to good use. Adults donate time to help with homework, transportation, and the garden work. Everyone participates in Healthy Sunday suppers, where healthy, garden-grown food is cooked and served by the youngsters in “right-sized” portions. Season by season, Conetoe is growing healthier and stronger. Many people have lost weight. We’ve seen fewer visits to the emergency room and, thankfully, fewer deaths. People from outside Conetoe are asking us what we’ve done. We are one of several churches participating in a study of diabetes and heart disease being conducted by The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, which has verified the health improvements over time. Churches in twenty-one counties are using our model to build their own community gardens, sowing the seeds of good health one row, one acre, one field at a time. That’s the lesson which is important to share: this work took time to build and grow, but over time, it has become the center of our community, and a source of physical and spiritual sustenance. Everyone has a role, everyone has a voice, and everyone can make a difference. Our young people take pride in their work, and that pride shows in how tall they stand and how they speak. When an older member of the community gives a child a blessing–placing her hands on that child’s head with the prayer that the child grows strong and does good in the world–you can see the change happen. And it’s a change that lasts. Now in my sixties, I am still healing from my youth. Seeing the young people learn and have fun while farming has redeemed the humilia- tion I felt as a sharecropper’s son. I don’t know when I’m going to die, but I know I’m not going to go with all the anger I once held inside me. A few years ago a child in our community stole money from the church. Some of the congregants wanted to press charges to teach him a lesson, but we decided to ask our young people to handle the matter. A bunch of teen- agers from Conetoe talked to the prosecutor and the youth was sentenced to community service in the garden. Today his life is back on track. He is in community college and I see him in church almost every Sunday. The moral leadership the kids showed is an antidote to the pain and negativity they could be carrying around. Just as our young people learn from us, we learn from them. Together we get closer to the spiritual, physical, and economic healing that I dreamed of ten years ago when we planted our first garden. You can see the change happen. And it’s a change that lasts.