Mystery of cabbage plants stuns parishioners

Friday, April 4, 2008
Maria Maynard, church administrator at St. Andrews Episcopal Church, holds up a flat of cabbage plants dropped off at the church by someone they have dubbed as "the Cabbage Plant Angel." Several churches were recent recipients of the plants left on church property with the simple note, "free cabbage."

Several local churches discovered hundreds of cabbage plants left on their doorsteps last weekend. Dubbed the "Cabbage Plant Angel" by Allison Edberg, St. Andrews Episcopal Church, a simple note was left behind saying "free cabbage."

Pastor Steve Williams, Putnam County Hospital chaplain and pastor of Grace Tabernacle Church, called the BannerGraphic to report flats of plants were left at several churches around town including Grace Tabernacle, Peace Lutheran, Somerset Christian and St. Andrews Episcopal churches.

Williams found the plants last Sunday night at his church. He heard from other ministers or saw plants at other churches and wondered who was responsible for this gift. Most of the churches had 10-15 flats with 24 plants in each.

"These plants are as big as tobacco plants. Some people that I have given them to accused me (jokingly) of passing out tobacco," said Williams.

Maria Maynard, church administrator for St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, found the flats sitting on a bench in the Memorial Garden of the church.

"Our church office is closed on Mondays so I didn't find them until Tuesday morning. They completely filled the benches in the Memorial Garden of the church," said Maynard.

"We're going to plant some in our church garden and have been giving them away to parishioners. I took some to my son's school in Cloverdale too," said Maynard.

Williams also has been handing out the plants to members of his church, people at the hospital and other friends.

He reported seeing someone watering the plants at Peace Lutheran Church earlier in the week. "I was driving by and saw they had plants too and someone was out watering them," he remarked.

Ironically, it was the pastor at Peace Lutheran Church who solved the mystery about who the Cabbage Plant Angel was.

Pastor Alan Barber was on his way to a counseling session at his church and saw the Angel dropping off plants.

"They had stopped by and I just happened to run into them, so they came over and talked to me," said Barber.

"The name of the company was Bonnie Plants out of Crawfordsville. They left me their card," reported Barber.

"They are just good Christian people," he added.

Barber is sharing the plants with people who have children attending school at the church and with the Sunday school classes.

Alisha Foxworthy, one of the people delivering the plants told Barber,

"Our boss just wanted us to do this."

A sign outside Grace Tabernacle speaks for all the churches hit by the Angel. It simply says "Thank you for the Cabbage Plants."

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  • What a beautiful story. That is the true spirit of giving. It sounds like Bonnie Plants are the gold standard among industries that have an abundance of product and wants fellow humans to benefit from it no matter if they get compensation or not. Unlike some industries that would rather throw away product than give it to people who normally wouldn't buy it. It isn't going to do anyone any good in a dumpster. We need more of this kind of kinship in this world. Why doesn't Greencastle have community gardens where we can go and harvest our own vegetables if we don't have the means to till or the space to plant? Come on Greencastle, don't you know the healling properties of watching something grow?

    -- Posted by wiggle wagle on Fri, Apr 4, 2008, at 4:57 PM
  • I have also wondered why our great city doesn't have an area for a community garden. I am sure that with rising prices more people would consider such an opportunity to grow and harvest their own food.

    -- Posted by dumpsterdiva on Sat, Apr 5, 2008, at 10:22 PM
  • The idea of a community garden is a good one. I certainly would participate. Maybe a Master Gardener in the area could help us get started. The city or Depauw U. or both could provide space.

    -- Posted by cletis on Fri, Apr 11, 2008, at 8:25 AM
  • A community garden??? Some will plant the garden, then all the moochers will go harvest it early and you won't get anything.

    -- Posted by hoop2077 on Sat, Apr 12, 2008, at 1:38 AM
  • Hey hoop2077, Are you a planter or a moocher? It's still a great idea.

    -- Posted by dumpsterdiva on Sun, Apr 13, 2008, at 8:33 PM
  • I mooch off of my own garden.

    -- Posted by hoop2077 on Sun, Apr 13, 2008, at 10:49 PM
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