When I arrived at the garden this morning, a group of eager gardeners awaited me. Jesus de la Cruz was already working on the threshing floor, and the community vegetable garden crew had begun filling the raised planters with soil. After last week’s rain, everyone was eager to get back to work. As you will see from the pictures, the garden was buzzing with activity–and it wasn’t just the bees!
The threshing floor in Ephraim is a work of art that will be a focal point and reminder of God’s provision, both physically and spiritually. Even now I can imagine the arbor draped with a chuppah in preparation for a wedding. Ephraim is connected to the seventh month–Tishrei–on the Hebrew calendar. Tishrei is the time of year when harvest is complete and the people experience the fullness of God’s blessings. The youngest of Joseph’s two sons born in Egypt, Ephraim received the firstborn’s blessing even though he was younger than his brother Manasseh. Jacob said of Manasseh, “He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.” Ephraim’s portion of our garden will reflect the fruitfulness and prosperity of his father, Joseph, through the plants and the threshing floor. As the Word says in Genesis 49:22, “Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall.”
Here is a sample of the activity today in the garden. Enjoy!
