Last week, St. Peter's Youth Group participated in a weeklong Mission Stay. Each day consisted of traveling to a different garden in the St. Louis area. The first three days of the week were all gardens associated with Gateway Greening. Gateway Greening believes that educating and empowering individuals through gardening and urban agriculture can connect people to the land, their food, and each other. 

On Monday, we visited the Garden of Eden at the St. Louis Jewish Community Center. Youth aided in the garden with composting and laying down weed barriers. The food grown in the garden is taken to the Jewish Food Pantry. The produce from the Garden of Eden is often the only fresh produce the food pantry receives. The leader of the garden took some time to educate us on Judaism and the grounds. 

The House of Living Stone Community Garden was where we spent our time on Tuesday. The garden was started by parishioners from First Baptist Church in Webster. We cleared the butterfly garden of weeds and while doing so, we found a bunny nest! It was a startling, but exciting moment to see new life. We also cleared out a raised bed and prepped it for new seedlings. Some youth had the opportunity to use a weed wacker for the first time. Oh, exciting day!

Wednesday was our last day working with a Gateway Greening garden. The Freedom School, located in University City, maintains a garden for their students who come from primarily urban areas where outdoor time is limited. Teachers integrate the garden into their curriculum, so students gain an appreciation for the outdoors and all nature has to offer. Our biggest assignment was at this garden - build a brand-new raised bed with limited tools. Our youth did a GREAT job and the raised bed looked great.

We traveled further East on Thursday and Friday to Forest Park where we worked with Forest Park Forever. Forest Park Forever which was founded in 1986, "is a private nonprofit conservancy that works in partnership with the City of St. Louis and the Department of Parks, Recreation and Forestry to restore, maintain and sustain Forest Park as one of America's greatest urban public parks." On Thursday, we worked primarily around the Boat House removing debris around trees. We learned how to use a new tool that we all wish we would have had earlier in the week! Friday brought the highest temperatures, but that didn't stop us. We worked in the Successional Forest removing non-native plants. We worked FAST and were able to cut down three truck loads worth of non-native species. 

Overall, we had a great week and that can be proven by our youth's enthusiasm. Rising sophomore, John Michael Scudi, stated: "It was fun being able to do some work for people who needed it in their gardens. I'd do it next time as well if I had the chance." Rising senior, Gretchen Mertz, stated: "It was so fun to get out and do an in-person service week! Seeing everyone and getting to go and volunteer at various places throughout St. Louis was a great way to start off the summer. I can't wait to do it again next year!"

Thank you to everyone who supported and prayed for our youth last week. We couldn't have done it without you!