Urban garden plot plants seeds of hope

Along with RICA and Our House, nearly 30 businesses and churches, including a Kentucky congregation, are sharing volunteers and resources with the ministry. The home and school are about a year away, but the first rows of early vegetables will soon go from greenhouse to ground.

The property, which the ministry acquired 18 months ago from John Thornton Hilleary, White House gardener under President Lyndon B. Johnson, is preserved in perpetuity by the Maryland Environmental Trust and can only be used for agricultural purposes.

Allert has enlisted input from the University of Maryland Cooperative Extension and Baltimore's Master Gardeners Club.

After touring the property, Kari Smith, assistant director of the Community Greening Stewardship, said, "To have this amount of acreage in the city is a real jewel, and to have someone so open to farming is fabulous. Growing and eating your own food offers fundamental life lessons in self-reliance."

Allert, who owns an Internet consulting business and is studying for the ministry, said the Samaritan Women's seeds in the ground will eventually help those who are most in need.

"Our big emphasis is reaching into the city with new life and energy," she said.