Published: October 12, 2007 10:36 pm         

Common Ground harvest day set

Harvesting of crops planted for the Common Ground Growing Project in Noble County is set for Oct. 20, and will involve a celebration meal and combine rides for the general public along with horse-drawn wagon rides.

This year’s celebration will begin with a carry-in dinner at 11 a.m. at Sparta United Methodist Church of Christ, on the south edge of Kimmell along U.S. 33, with a blessing of the crops and harvesters followed by the meal. The church will provide meat and potatoes, and attendees are asked to take a side dish or dessert.

Actual harvesting of a field on the north edge of Kimmell along the east side of U.S. 33 will follow, with several combines. Free rides will be available until the job is finished (if it is raining the celebration meal at the church will still take place, but the crop will be brought in on a different day).

Over the past few years Common Ground volunteers have harvested thousands of bushels of corn, sold it and, thanks to the donated use of land and gifts of seed, chemicals, labor and cash as well as donations of additional grain at local elevators, raised tens of thousands of dollars toward the cause of world food security.

Cash donations are also being sought, with assistance from youths in local Future Farmers of America chapters and from the youth philanthropy group P.U.L.S.E. of Noble County (Philanthropists Utilizing Lifelong Service Education).

Donations can also be sent in care of Bill and Marilyn Emmert, 3047 W. Albion Road, Albion, IN 45701, and farmers taking harvested corn or beans to Frick’s or Gaerte’s in Noble County are encouraged to donate a portion of their load toward the project.

“Growing a better future for others,” is the mission of Common Ground, Noble County’s first Foods Resource Bank-affiliated project. To find out more about Common Ground call the Emmerts at (260) 636-2285, or check www.foodresourcebank.org to find out more about Foods Resource Bank in general.

Funds generated by Common Ground have been used to support a program in Peru involving construction of wells and irrigation systems, establishment of tree nurseries and provision of natural resource management training in two communities, and will also be used this year to support similar work in Burkina Faso, West Africa.

Foods Resource Bank is a Christian-based initiative through which farm and non-farm community members collaborate to produce crops on common plots of land in order to donate proceeds of the harvest to any one of roughly 50 food-security programs operating in more than 30 countries.