Eichhorn helps Devin Youngblood, son of Prince of Peace Presbyterian Rev. Desiree Youngblood, water the vegetables in Prince of Peace's community garden. Photos by Amanda DePerro
For 69-year-old Pickerington local Keith Eichhorn, farming isn’t just a leisurely activity – it’s a way of life and a way of giving back to the community.
Having grown up on a farm in Pennsylvania, Eichhorn learned to plant and grow food from his father, and remembers “helping” around the farm when he was so small that all he could manage was carrying a bucket of water.
But when Eichhorn and his wife of 43 years, Marilyn, moved to Michigan from Pennsylvania, he didn’t have enough room for a garden to grow the food that he liked: potatoes, tomatoes, peas, onions, beets, carrots, cauliflower and the list goes on. He remedied the problem by renting a plot in the local community garden.
He continued to maintain the plot in Michigan for eight years until he moved to Ohio 25 years ago, shortly after which he began renting a plot at the Pickerington community gardens. For the retired metallurgist in the steel industry, farming is something he’s always done and will always do.
“I grew up with it … I was just raised with that,” says Eichhorn. “Back then, you lived in the country. You had to raise your own food, (and) you didn’t have access to a lot. … Our parents and grandparents did it because they had to (in order) to survive.”
Eichhorn takes the food he wants – Marilyn cans and saves whatever he brings home – and hauls the rest to the PCMA Food Pantry of Pickerington. When he realized how fast the food he brought to the pantry disappeared, he decided to grow and bring in food that the pantry suggests might be popular.
“They don’t get the chance to get a lot of locally grown food; a lot of what they have is from the grocery store, and they throw a lot away,” says Eichhorn. “Onions, potatoes, cabbage; they’ll get rid of it as soon as I bring it in.”
The food Eichhorn brings is not only locally grown, but fresh, too. He harvests the food from the garden, loads it all up in his car and brings it into the food pantry, all in the same day.
When Eichhorn saw that others in the Pickerington community – and particularly within his church, Prince of Peace Presbyterian – were interested in learning how to garden and grow their own food, he decided to suggest the idea of renting a plot through the church in benefit of the food pantry.
“Keith has been great. He’s brought me so much free food, and he brings it to older people in the community,” says Prince of Peace Reverend Désirée Youngblood. “He’s good-hearted.”
What Eichhorn is doing at the community garden “represents the essence of Christianity, to feed people who are in need,” says Youngblood.
Eichhorn’s community garden plot is just one part of Prince of Peace’s Nurture Project, which aims to educate on environmental consciousness through initiatives such as teaching children to plant flowers and watch them grow. Though Eichhorn is open to the idea of educating others on how to garden and farm, he says, his main goal for the plot at the community gardens is to get kids at the church involved in the community and in charitable work.
On April 23, Eichhorn and other members of Prince of Peace met at the community garden to plant the first seeds of summer: potatoes and cabbage. Youngblood brought her son, Devin, who was eager to help rake the garden plot and water the saplings. A few other children from the church showed up, too, and excitedly got to work on the chilly Sunday morning, planting potatoes that Eichhorn had prepared.
Zoe Wright, a senior at Ohio University and Christian education director at Prince of Peace, snapped pictures and encouraged the children as Eichhorn assisted them in their gardening.
“We’re instilling this in them young. … It’s important to get the kids involved in church at an early age so they come back as adults,” says Wright. “It gets them involved and also gets them outside and away from their screens.”
Despite all the good that comes out of Eichhorn’s plot at the community garden, he still just enjoys gardening for the sake of gardening.
“Just being outside and working with Mother Nature,” says Eichhorn. “It’s kind of like the challenges of how God works on this whole thing; you plant the food, it grows. The soil and how it works, I just find it amazing.”
Amanda DePerro is an assistant editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
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