Faith Based Gardening

My faith is very important to me and the very cornerstone of my peace and sanity. Gardening is also important to me (and my sanity). When I read this article, that combines the two, I felt compelled to pass it along. It presents new ideas and possibilities. Really, though, isn't all gardening based on faith?

A Bible Garden Is a Horticultural and Historical Challenge
By DEAN FOSDICKTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: Saturday, June 14, 2008 at 6:01 a.m.

People who grow gardens grow in faith, according to the Rev. Marsh Hudson-Knapp, which accounts in large part for the Bible garden he helped established adjacent to his church a quarter-century ago."A lot of people's spirituality is rooted in nature," said Hudson-Knapp, pastor of The First Congregational Church of Fair Haven, Vt. "There's always been a deep (biblical) connection with gardening. With each new season, life is bursting forth again."

A Bible garden is not a theme recommended for the casual hobbyist. Cultivating every flower, shrub, food crop or fruit mentioned in the Scriptures is a daunting objective, especially if you're trying to be exacting about plant choice. More than 120 plants have been mentioned in the Bible, although that total is open to interpretation.
How do you determine, for example, exactly what kind of "burning bush" was cited in the story of Moses (Exodus 3:2). Or what is meant by such figurative imagery as "grains," "trees" or "sweet smelling plant?" "We decided not to be all that precise," Hudson-Knapp said in a telephone interview. "We use substitutes at times, especially where we can't duplicate the growing conditions of certain plants. That means going with the botanical cousins; the same genus, but a different species."

There are plants of the Bible and then there are plants of the Bible lands, said Lytton John Musselman, who chairs the Department of Biological Sciences at Old Dominion University and is author of "Figs, Dates, Laurel and Myrrh: Plants of the Bible and the Quran."

Read more.... http://www.theledger.com/article/20080614/NEWS/806140368/1326&title=A_Bible_Garden_Is_a_Horticultural_and_Historical_Challenge