Only three days remaining until #GivingTuesday2023!
One hundred thirty-five (135). By itself, it’s just a number. Not particularly interesting or worth the effort to feel anything. That is, until it represents the number of times this season a session was held. 135 times prayers were prayed, supplies were readied, and our session leaders and greeters came together to serve the children and teens who came to the ranch. Every one of those 135 sessions had a story behind it. One day a struggle, one day a fear, one day filled with laughter, one day a breakthrough. 135 ways we watch God move and marvel at what He’s doing. To hear a parent say, “This is my child’s happy place”, or a child exclaim, “I want to stay here forever!”, makes all the hard work worth it.
Eighteen hundred thirty-five pounds (1,835lbs.). The current tally of produce we’ve harvested and given away from the garden so far this season, and we still have citrus coming up before the year ends. It sounds a little more impressive when you consider that in 2021, the total was 430lbs. Last year (2022) it was 704lbs. The soil here was in terrible shape when we moved in and began tearing out the 35 year old almond orchard. Surrounded in every direction by hardpan and clay, the ranch is one of a handful of properties sitting on a sandbar. The soil here was depleted and basically dead. After four years of regenerative farming, it’s coming to life a little more every year, much like the children and families who come to the ranch. With every hurdle we overcome on this land we share what we’ve learned so that others can do the same. This year we began recording our garden talks and posting them on our YouTube channel so those who aren’t able to attend can find the information, implement it, and hopefully share it with others. The best part about the 1,835lbs., is watching families and volunteers walk through the gardens and pick fresh, organic produce to feed their families. When a child that insists, they don’t like tomatoes can’t resist trying the beautiful bowl of grape tomatoes on the table during sessions, and then asks for them every time they come out after that, what could be better!
Numbers. They’re boring, until you know what they represent. Some of the numbers we encounter to move forward at the ranch can seem like giant mountains, but like Lisa, one of our staff members, likes to remind us, we serve a God who does impossible math!