Harvest totals for Sept 4 ^th and 9 ^th: 526 lbs.  Big producers: tomatoes 353 lbs, peppers 49 lbs, beans 63 lbs, okra 20 lbs. Year to date 2019: 2297lbs. , 2018: 3603 lbs. Donations to date: 4452 lbs. No question that the team has put lots of sweat into making this garden successful for another year. Still need help with the harvest and end of season clean up . Contact us to volunteer or to let us know folks in need by calling 618-475-2402 or email: gr617@aol.com. You can just show up on Monday or Wednesday between 9:30-12:00, (weather permitting). We will put you to work and teach you gardening and preserving skills if you are interested or look at the Stewardship Gardens Face book page for  links.
 
Think about Stewardship and your family. One aspect is explaining how important God is to creating a loving family life to your children. Very good article in the Sept 8-14 issue of Our Sunday Visitor about the recent symposium about the liturgy of family life. ( www.osvnews.com) Not enough space to adequately cover the material but here are some key topics and thoughts on three of them: 1. Family life is liturgical.  More than prayer. When members work to love each other with Christ's love the relationships within the family become a path to holiness and sanctity.  2. The three rites of the family liturgy: Relationship, Rituals of Connection, Rite of reaching out; 3. Parents matter more than they think. When children experience faith as the source of warmth in their home they are more willing to accept their parents expectations as necessary elements of a good and loving family life. Without that, faith can be perceived as an obstacle to a good life. 4. Fathers matter, 5. Your story is important. This  is where you tell your chapter of the never ending story to your children and help them start writing their chapter. It is a personal narrative of how faith has made a meaningful difference in your lives, how faith makes sense in the world and helps overcome the trials of life. Still looking for that Facebook person, where are you? Be the best steward, shepherd you can be; and as Father Mark tells us: Put God first; be Catholic. Reflect the light of our Lord to all those you encounter. We pray that God will bless you and prosper all you do in His name.