Community garden idea growing at Greensburg church

As often happens, hours spent on a tractor can lead to great ideas. When Fred Oestreicher volunteered to cut the lawn at St. Matthias Evangelical Lutheran Church in Greensburg he had no idea what he was in for.

Fred Oestreicher of Greensburg has lead the effort to create a community garden at St. Matthias Evangelical Lutheran Church. The garden is for anyone who needs a place to grow for themselves, but Oestreicher hopes people will share their produce with the hungry. “If anyone wants to leave any excess here, weÕ’l take it to the food bank,” he says.

“This is crazy. We could build a baseball field here,” he recalls thinking about the expansive lawn.
The 63-year-old had recently retired from running the BP station on West Pittsburgh Street in the city and wanted to give the church at least a day a week of his time. He hadn’t really looked behind the church to see just how much grass was there before he made the commitment. It takes a good five hours to complete the job which gave him plenty of time to contemplate a better use for all this area.
After reading about a community garden at Oak Grove Lutheran Church in Zelienople, Oestreicher thought that would be the perfect way to convert the land. After visiting with the pastor up north and asking questions for a couple hours, Oestriecher brought the information back to the congregation who all agreed it would be a worthwhile project. After checking with the Westmoreland County Food Bank, who were happy to accept the anticipated produce, the project was under way.
The community garden is a space for anyone who needs a place to garden as long as it’s for personal consumption. But there’s also hope that gardeners or groups will use it for sharing with the hungry.
“If anyone wants to leave any excess here, we’ll take it to the food bank,” Oestriecher says.

Fred Oestreicher of Greensburg (left) works with a team to plow the community garden last fall at St. Matthias Evangelical Lutheran Church.

There’s an annual fee of $20 for each 10 foot by 20 foot plot. “I figure that will pay for our water,” Oestriecher says with a chuckle. The planting areas can be split between gardeners, too.  A soil test through the Penn State Cooperative Extension was done and then the ground was amended to get the pH and fertility up to par. Last fall, 18 plots were plowed over and there’s room for more if needed.
Oestreicher was able to get some funding help from Thrivent Financial, which offers clients two $250 Community Impact Cards to use for approved projects. He was able to get both, which covered the cost of turning over the soil, tools and other expenses.
“I think the real reward is to taste what you grow, it gives a better appreciation of the vegetables, what they can really taste like,” he says. “Anybody I know that has a garden, when the stuff starts coming in, they end up with more than they can use. I’m hoping that when all those plots come in there’s going to be a ton of food and I can call (the food bank) to come and pick it up.”
An open house will be held at 3 p.m. April 22 at the church to look over the garden, ask questions or choose a plot. St. Matthias is located at 100 Chapel View Drive in Hempfield.
An application for a planting area can be found at the church’s web site, stmatthiasgreensburg.org.
Doug Oster is the Tribune-Review home and garden editor. Reach him at 412-965-3278 or doster@tribweb.com. See other stories, blogs, videos and more at everybodygardens.com.