Founded in 1997, the John Leake Memorial Garden at Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church (CHPC) has been the site for week-long gardening day camps during the summer since 2002.  Children ages 7-14 attend the week-long day camps that run Monday through Friday, from 9:00 am until 3:00 pm. Children work the soil, grind corn, harvest salads for lunch, graze on raspberries and blueberries, can salsa, cook and eat together, then walk to the bubble pool for a swim.  They learn about gardening, food preparation, compost making, agricultural economics and ecology. Father Coyote and other stores are shared.  The camps provide a spiritual and cultural connection to the earth and God's creation.  They are powerful builders of community, team work, and educational enrichment. 

The Coordinator of Garden Camps is Stephen Bartlett, a member of CHPC and volunteer coordinator of Sustainable Agriculture of Louisville (SAL).  Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church and Sustainable Agriculture of Louisville sponsor the camps.  Funding comes from individual donations, camp fees and periodic support from the CHPC Pentecost Offering and Mid-Kentucky Presbytery.

Garden Camp 2010

In 2010, Garden Camps will meet on the following weeks:

June 7-11

June 14-18

June 21-25

June 28-July 2

For more information on Garden Camp, contact Stephen Bartlett at sbartlett@ag-missions.org or 502.896.9171.

Click here to read the article about Garden Camp, "God's Garden: Church-based Community Agriculture," by Holly Lebowitz Rossi, from Sojourner's Magazine.