Mystery of cabbage plants stuns parishioners
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."