The Plot Thickens

My most faithful Vol, and right hand man, D and I had cause to visit some people who are starting up their own allotment today.  The intention was to see if we could make use of some excess free stuff they have.  Not only was some of the stuff useful, but it was good to be able to exchange information.

It looks as though there may be some opportunities to share ideas and resources in the future, and they helped link me to people with some expertise in this area who may be able to shoulder some of the burden from now on.  This is more good news, people, and has given me some encouragement and a bit of energy and motivation to move things on a bit more.

We are now looking for a window of opportunity to get these trees planted.  Conditions have been far from ideal recently, so please be in prayer for the coinciding of times, people and weather.  Ta!

Our Secretary has also let me know that there is a very enthusiastic gent from their church who is interested in seeing what we do with a view to lending a hand.  I am waiting on a phone call from him, too.

Praise the Lord of Logistics (amongst other things) for bringing things together as and when they should be.

Woodland Trust have awarded us some nice young trees to plant in the form of a hedge.  This is great news in light of the fact that we used our previous ‘tree money’ to go towards replacement shed.  Need to sort out some kind of planting day, which I think would be a good chance to connect with people who we have worked with this past year and who have drifted.  Excuse for a celebration, perhaps (as well as/instead of Christmas meal)?

Don’t think I mentioned that a fabulous old saint from our chapel has offered his advice and support at the plot.  Well, he has.  Mr Mac is one of those lovely, twinkly octogenarians who is basically a cheeky young lad in an older bloke’s body. Please pray that I can get organised enough to fix a time for him to come and see us in action at the allotment.

Also, finally managed to get the four of our present ‘holding pattern’ committee in the same room at one time recently.  It was good to chat and pray together and establish a little more clarity as to where we are and where we need to be.  Praise God!

One final point, please thank God that I my personal walk with Him is getting more ‘real’ than it has been in far too long.  I need this basic cornerstone in order for the rest of life to function properly.  My laxness about fellowship with other people could still do with improvement, but it is a step in the right direction, I guess.

Am beginning to feel that I need to appoint a successor at the plot.  I think I know who this is, but still have my reservations.  Prayer please.  Thanks.

Also, still in need of sorting out the Committee issues, which may now include a Total Restructure (to be said in Arnie type voice).  Again, prayer needed.

Plot itself looking good.  Almost all of the major work in place, which is one of the reasons why I think it may be time to hand the day-to-day running to another person (or people?).  I must not lose sight of the fact that the reason we started this project was in order to bless people via interaction with God’s creation.  The overarching ethos needs to remain this way and we, as Sustaining Life, should still retain overall responsibility for the project.

It is now three years since we began this journey in earnest, and I think we are approaching the next phase.  Just can’t quite see what it is yet.  It may, in fact, constitute a fallow period before we take the next step.  I don’t know, but I am keeping my focus on Jesus, as best I can anyway.

Since my last post the following has occurred:

- The shed was built with the help of some most excellent volunteers

- The funding report was finished, submitted and approved

- I have started a new ‘day job’.

Now, whilst those matters are all good news in and of themselves, the final one leaves me in a little bit of a quandry.  My new job takes up more of my time than the previous one and does not put me in such a good position for promoting the work we do – in fact it removes me from that arena entirely.  This adds to the difficulty I am having in staying focused on matters at the allotment, which I know our main volunteer finds frustrating.  Whilst I understand this, it is hard to keep the balance between work, the plot and other important life issues.

This means that I probably need to be finding a person or people to take some of the load.  We also need a functional Management Committee, cos it effectively consists of Jeff and myself at the moment, and we are really just keeping things in a holding pattern.  The day to day stuff at the project still carries on okay, but we do not want to see things stagnate or, worse still, run down.  This is my fear.  I am concerned that without sufficient input from a broader range of people, the project may suffer.

So, there is a real prayer request for you.  PLEASE ask that we will find those that we need to help carry the work forward.  I have put the word out as best I can, and have been attempting to find solutions, but a bit of Divine Intervention would not go amiss at this point.  Thanks.

In other news:  we have had some great crops recently and a couple of new regulars at the plot, so there are always things to be thankful for.  Also, the local ladies prayer group that meets monthly seems to have really taken us to heart, and a few kind souls from our local chapel also take an interest.   Note to self:  keep the faith!

The new shed is ordered and ready for delivery.  Please pray that I will be able to get hold of the right helpful people to assist me in its construction.  Left to my own devices, I would probably set it up such that it would be blown over the very next day.  I may have many skills, but master shed builder is not one of them!

I am also in the process of submitting the end of funding report to Keep Wales Tidy.  I will need to get my head in gear over the next couple of days and also manage to organise the collation of the various invoices etc, which means contacting the elusive pimpernel treasurer!  Please pray for a level head and focus to get this done and submitted asap.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support Wibfolk.  It helps to know that there are people out there rooting for what we do.  God bless.

Good news no 1:  The dead shed has been given a new lease of life as compost bays, currently housing copious amounts of cow manooooore.  Lovely!

Good news no 2:  Keep Wales Tidy have said that we can go ahead and use outstanding funds from their grant to purchase a sturdy new shed.

Good news no 3:  Environment Wales are inviting us to submit a bid for the items from the original KWT grant, so it looks like the wildlife pond will still get the chance to be built.

This is most certainly a thank and praise the Lord moment.  Care to join me in a Hallelujah, dear Wibfolk?

I have been in e-mail contact with Keep Wales Tidy since the demise of our green metal shed.  They appear to be willing to re-allocate some funding, which had been awarded initially for other items, in order to cover the cost of a replacement shed.  They are also happy to extend the deadline for spending the grant and also for us to provide evidence of expenditure.  I now need to put together an amendment to the original grant application, outlining our proposed re-distribution of funds.

It would be easy to assume that these encouraging signs are a guarantee of a positive outcome, but life has taught me never to take things for granted.  To that end, please pray for this matter, thanking God for the encouraging signs to far and asking Him to provide a good outcome (I’m hoping that His idea of the correct outcome is the same as the one I have!)

Thanks.

We have a new cloche…

We also have the means to make compost bays…

Unfortunately, the cloche used to be the shed roof; the compost bays its walls!

Please be in prayer for us to be able access the funding to buy  a new shed very soon.

Thanks.

Winter 08 – The second plot was rented, adjacent to the initial one.  Chris and his group of volunteers started to help us  on a regular basis.  This was helpful for a number of reasons – people-power, the insurance and tools provided by Chris’ group plus the fact that I was able to make use of his expertise.  We identified 3 committee members at this point and I purchased the first ever seeds for sowing at the plot.  Jeff started to do some lay preaching, and the donations he was given for this formed the basis of my petty cash system which would soon be raided on a regular basis for necessities such as compost.  There was a cloud on the horizon, however, as it appeared that we may soon lose the help of Chris and his team.

Spring 08 - Sadly, we did lose Chris and co at this stage, along with the insurance they brought with them.  Work on the plot slowed considerably at this point, but  Jon was still helping.  He assisted me in the planting of the first crop – some early potatoes.  I also submitted my first ever plot-related grant application to cover basic equipment costs and the also in order to purchase our own insurance.  Things became fairly difficult, with weeds and other hindrances causing some frustration.

No, I have not forgotten that Christmas has been and gone.  This is a reference to the ‘Stone of Help’ in the Old Testament, meaning ‘Thus far has the LORD helped us’.  Apparently, the stone in question (a form of altar of remembrance) was called Ebenezer.  I guess if you are going to call a stone anything, it may as well be that!

All joking aside, I thought I would take this opportunity to chart the journey of our little ministry to date, and praise God for helping us thus far!

Summer 07 – saw Jeff and I attending the conference at Caring for Life which sparked a passion for this ministry in both of us.  The wiblog arrived not long after that, together with the search for the form this ministry was to take.  Very soon after, the inspiration came to set up a therapeutic allotment project.  Names for the overall ministry and also the allotment project were provided by Chas and Rain, bringing ‘Sustaining Life’ and ‘Plotting to Improve’ to the world.

Autumn/Winter 07 - I met a Christian allotment holder through work by the name of Jon, who gave advice on selecting the right kind of plot.  After overcoming a little initial resistance from the committee at our chosen site (answered prayer!) we rented our first plot.  Jon and his father-in-law also helped with initial ground clearance at this plot.  I started a horticultural course, and Environmental Chris first entered the picture – proving useful from the outset.  We also started approaching people to become members of our Management Committee.  The year ended on a high with a surprise donation ‘out of the blue’ which enabled us to purchase basic items to get the project off the ground.

I’m going to pause here, as I am aware that this will be an INCREDIBLY long post if I write the full story in one go!  It has excited me to look back at even the first few months of the life of ‘Plotting to Improve’, and I hope it has put a smile on your face too.  Ain’t God good!