RUSSO (Host Intro): Since the 1600's, churches on the lower Eastern Shore have been a gathering place for faith, food, and fellowship. I'm Bryan Russo. In warmer months, you'll see church lawns buzzing with people, but what happens when these green spaces are not being used? In this segment of Conservation Conversations, Lauren Imhof explores Yards for Creation, a program that begs the question: what if these spaces could gather more than just people?
IMHOF: In the biting winds of January, three different spiritual organizations open their doors to talk to me about Yards for Creation; a beloved program founded by the Lower Shore Land Trust that brings ecological life to public lands. Between offers of warm drinks and snacks, we discussed each unique project.
I sat down with folks from St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Quantico, a group ecstatic for their upcoming pollinator habitats. They each expressed different reasons for their excitement, all revolving around community benefits like Rebecca Taylor White who said:
WHITE: I think that a lot of people hear about the idea of reducing their lawn space and want to create a meadow, but they don't really know how to do it. So hopefully this will be a way to show people what they can do.
IMHOF: And Yards for Creation helps do just that. But the Lower Shore Land Trust doesn't do it alone. They frequently work with one water partnership, which stems from interfaith partners for the Chesapeake. One example is at Delmarva Free School, where LSLT installed a meadow, a mindfulness garden and native trees with one water partnership's help. For Kelly McMullen, founder of Delmarva Free School, her meadow, has been a place of pure joy.
MCMULLEN: Within days, we had monarchs all over the asters and the milkweed, which was just a true joy. That, and watching all of the birds as well as the foxes create foxholes in the meadow. This late fall has been a real joy. Now that there's not so much growth, you see that it's a true habitat for all the wildlife, and that's been a really cool thing to experience because it's something new all the time.
IMHOF: While Yards for Creation is expanding to cover public lands, the initial program focuses on spiritual and congregational lands. To the people of these spaces, the connection between Meadows and their spirituality is obvious.
MCMULLEN: It's been such an installation of hope for people, right? And so I can't imagine other spiritual, particularly religious communities not benefiting from signs of renewed life every year and getting to have an active role of that hands-on experience.
CARLSON: Being a Bible-based denomination, we're very in tune with creation and nature, and we believe in preserving our environment as best we can and utilizing the space that God has blessed us with for as natural of purposes as possible.
IMHOF: That was Pastor Greg Carlson from Park Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Salisbury. Walking through their meadow, which surrounds the church's community garden, it became clear that these places are as much about spirituality as they are about practicality. For Pastor Greg, the decision to install a meadow just made sense.
CARLSON: It's beneficial, it's low maintenance, it's less yard for us to mow, and it's pretty, and it benefited our garden, and it benefits the environment in general.
IMHOF: The Lower Shore Land Trust has successfully built a program that uses creativity to restore public lands into hotspots for all types of congregations. Check out this program and next spring, you may find yourself surrounded by new flowers, new pollinators, and new friends too. With Delmarva Public Media. I'm Lauren Imhof.
RUSSO OUTRO: Conservation Conversations is a partnership between Delmarva Public Media and the Lower Shore Land Trust. To learn more, visit lowershorelandtrust.org or delmarvapublicmedia.org.
