The Sault Wesleyan Church in Sault St. Marie sits on nearly 40 acres of fields overgrown with phragmites and other invasive species. Kirsten Hindy, an Au Sable alum, realized that their church didn’t have secluded outdoor spaces where people could quietly experience God and wanted to change that. Over the course of a few months, the Sault Wesleyan Church learned about restoration work and how to design their own restoration site through the Sacred Grounds program carried out by the Au Sable Institute. The small group came together weekly to learn about the role Christians play in caring for the environment and then planned and prepped the garden site. On a breezy Thursday evening, Kirsten and the group joined together to install their native plants.

The planned sites fell in the middle of the fields, surrounded by phragmites and autumn olive, both highly invasive and notoriously difficult to manage. The communal hope is that these two gardens will not only provide quiet places of reflection but also increase biodiversity and educate the congregation on the importance of native habitat.

Rebekah Novak, our Environmental Education and Greenhouse Coordinator, demonstrated how to prepare the plants for installation and worked alongside the congregation throughout the evening. The planting event was one full of wonder and hope; while the adults drilled holes and prepped the plants, a handful of young kids placed the plants into the ground. Their curiosity and eagerness made the planting go by quickly!

Over the next few years, we look forward to seeing how the gardens establish and how the congregation engages with caring for creation.