As students and parents arrived at St. John’s for the first day of the new school year on August 21, they were greeted with a rather pungent aroma pervading the campus. What was the smell? Was there something wrong on campus?
Nothing was wrong. In fact something was very right. Earlier that morning a fresh load of compost had been delivered for the Mission Farm in preparation for fall planting. Since we were receiving the compost at no charge (praise God!), we had to take it when available.
Smell of Money?
Here’s how I explained it in chapel that morning to the students:
I used to live in a small town in Iowa. Every now and then the farmers would spread manure or other organic material on their fields. And on those days, if the wind was right, much of the town was treated to the pungent aroma. But if you happened to mention it to a farmer (or anyone connected to agriculture), they would say, “Why, that’s the smell of money!” Their livelihood was dependent on fertile fields, and the spreading was an important part of that.
But our farm is different. It’s not the “smell of money” that greeted us on that Wednesday morning. But rather the “smell of God feeding the poor.” Our farm exists to be a tool of God for providing for the Napa Food Bank and the people that it serves. So there may be times (not very often) when there is a pungent aroma on our campus, but it’s there so that we can serve the Lord and our community. Praise be to God for the opportunity to partner with Him, and to be His hands and feet.
More hands and feet
Speaking of hands and feet, we can always use more workers on the farm, especially with harvesting. If you are interested, please contact the farm for more information: missionfarm@stjohnslutheran.net.
