Harmony Springs Church of Green, OH is excited to announce that Kristy Doering will be joining Harmony Springs staff as Assistant Garden Director. Kristy will be overseeing the development of Harmony Springs Community Garden CSA Project which is located at the site of Harmony Springs Centre, the future home of Harmony Springs Church set to be complete in the Summer of 2021.
"From the first time we met I knew Kristy was going to be the perfect addition to our team at Harmony Springs," said Lead Pastor Rev. Joel Engman. Kristy brings a desire to see a community garden CSA in Green that builds on what the church started 4 years ago. By involving the community of Green both Kristy and the church look forward to making locally grown produce accessible to individuals and families struggling with food insecurity in our community. "Kristy has the right mix of experience, education and passion to really make a difference in our community," reports Engman.
Kristy is the proud mother of three amazing, (sometimes truly wild), young men, Andrew,
Nicholas, and Sam, who always keep her on her toes and thoroughly entertained.
She enjoys spending time outdoors with her family camping and going on new adventures. Her hobbies include hiking, gardening, and kayaking at the Nimisila Reservoir. She also loves all kinds of animals and has several different types of pets. Kristy enjoys traveling, exploring our amazing local geology, reading, writing, and learning about anything and everything.
Kristy has had a lifelong love of environmental science since her days as a girl scout and she earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Kent State University in 2018. She hopes to use this education to find sustainable solutions to problems which are harming ecosystems and disproportionately impacting people who are struggling.
In 2016 Harmony Springs started planting the seeds of a community garden project the church hoped would develop into a Community CSA. We desired to do a bit more than just grow produce to give to people in need - although that is at the heart of our project. We are working towards the development of a full-on CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) project that is run as a community partnership.
The church looks forward to a day soon when church and community members have the opportunity to purchase non-profit shares of the CSA, receive weekly locally-grown-non-pesticide produce that they can pick up at the church on Sundays or at the Green farmer's market and also volunteer/work in the garden.
We want this CSA to do as much good as possible so we plan to always provide a percentage of our produce to Green Good Neighbors Food Pantry and a percentage of our CSA shares will go to support growing projects in developing countries through Foods Resource Bank.
"When we first started we had little-to-no idea what we were doing. :) But we jumped in muddy boots and all. Each year we have more experience under our belts and more supporters that get us closer and closer to selling shares in the CSA," said Associate Pastor of Community Development Jennifer Berlyoung.
For more information on Harmony Springs Garden Project and/or Harmony Springs Centre visit harmonysprings.org. Kristy can be reached via email at kristy@harmonysprings.org.
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