Brownies sow good will with herb garden

Following Sunday morning’s church service at St. James the Great Episcopal Church in Newport Beach, the Rev. Canon Cindy Evans Voorhees blessed the newly constructed herb garden created by Brownie Troop 3094 for St. James the Great Culinary Kitchen.

Planting the herb garden in the church courtyard was a way for the Brownies to complete one of their service projects and also thank the church for giving them a temporary meeting place.

They have been using the church space since the demolition of the Neva B. Smith Girl Scout House last summer. A new, permanent Girl Scouts Leadership Center, part of the Marina Park project, is expected to be completed in 2016.

Troop leader Susan Egan Hartmann collaborated with chef Patrick DiGiacomo and parishioner Nicole Voorhees, the vicar’s daughter-in-law, to design a fully organic herb garden that utilizes a water-conservation drip system.

Among herb varieties growing in the garden are dill, rosemary, parsley, tarragon, chives, golden oregano and basil.

The local Armstrong Garden Center and other nurseries donated soil and seeds, and Bill Sankey, a parent of a Brownie, built the raised box and prepared the soil.

Sankey said that the labor required in relocating the dirt was the only snag.

“The dirt was originally delivered to the parking lot across the street, and on one of the hottest days of the year, and we had to haul it ourselves back over to the church patio,” Sankey said with a laugh.

Hartmann was delighted by the Brownie teamwork.

“This is the culmination of a Brownie quest, a program in which girls become empowered to change the world,” Hartmann said.

The herbs will be used by the hospitality team for their ministry and during coffee hours and dinners. After services, the Culinary Kitchen routinely serves lunch to parishioners.

Also attending the dedication ceremony was Newport Beach Mayor Pro Tem Diane Dixon, who provided city recognition with a symbolic cutting of the twine.