Feeding the Multitude

This feature story was originally published in Denton County Magazine, Sept./Oct. 2019

Spurred by scripture, Gene Gumfory’s vision for a community garden has blossomed far beyond his wildest dreams.

By Melanie Medina

“You give them something to eat.” — Matthew 14:16

Even if you’re not a churchgoer, you’ve probably heard this story before. It goes something like this: 

Jesus had had a long day. Hearing of his miracles, thousands of people had been following him around. His disciples were getting antsy about feeding everyone, so they asked Jesus to tell these people to go back to their villages and buy their own food.

According to the version of the story in Matthew 14 (the story is recounted in all four gospels), Jesus told them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

The disciples only had five loaves of bread and a couple of fish, which they handed over to Jesus. He took the food, looked to Heaven to bless it and miraculously fed every person in the crowd until they were full.

Gene Gumfory, a longtime member of Denton Bible Church, had heard the parable before. But when he heard it one particular Sunday in 2009, the scripture struck him in a way it never had. Jesus wasn’t just talking about feeding people physically, it occurred to Gumfory. He was talking about feeding them spiritually as well.

“I began to think on it,” Gumfory says. “Maybe I could start a small garden somewhere and teach people to garden.” 

He shared his vision with the church’s elders. One of them, Virgil “Spunky” Adams, ran the idea by another church member, a gentleman who’d done well for himself and owned 14.5 acres of land near the church.

Adams asked the man, Nolan Egbert, if he’d allow the church to use a small portion of the land to start the garden.

“I’ll do something better,” Adams recalls Egbert saying. “I’ll give it to the church.”

Egbert had one stipulation. The garden had to be called Shiloh Field. In Hebrew, Shiloh means “To him who it belongs.” In other words, this would be God’s garden.

When Adams told Gumfory about Egbert’s offer, he couldn’t believe it. “You know, it’s kind of like the Prayer of Jabez,” Gumfory says. “You best be careful what you ask God for because he will give you a plateful.” 

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” — Genesis 2:15

In short order, “The paperwork was done, the transaction was made, and Gene was like a kid in a candy store,” Adams says.

Gumfory mapped out how the 14.5 acres should be used. He designated a large portion for growing produce that would feed the needy. Another area was divided into 155 individual plots that families could claim and tend to on their own, as long as they agreed to keep it clean and donate some of their harvest. An area toward Shiloh Field’s entrance would be used to grow fruit trees

“In the beginning I was helping gene with the layout of the garden, but he was responsible for most of that. It fast became apparent that Gene was the one with the know how on how to lay that out and organize it,” Adams said.

For the most part, Shiloh Field is still organized the way Gumfory originally designed it. But this year, they’ll reduce the number of individual family plots to about 90. Keeping up with 155 is just too much.

Besides Adams, plenty of other volunteers came on board. “Gene is just one of those guys who says, “I’ve got an idea,” and he rallies the troops, and people jump right in and follow him,” Adams says.

In its first year, volunteers harvested more than 12,000 pounds of produce. In recent years, Shiloh Field yields around 100,000 pounds of produce, virtually all of which is donated to organizations that serve low-income families in North Texas, including Salvation Army, Fred Moore Day Nursery, Our Daily Bread and Denton County Food Bank. Many of these organizations receive weekly deliveries from Shiloh Field.

Volunteers contribute about 500 hours each month doing whatever needs to be done: tilling the ground, building irrigation systems, pulling weeds, harvesting produce and making deliveries. And most of the tools and resources they use — water, shovels, hoes, buckets, rakes, tractors — are donated.

I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. — Revelation 2:2

Gumfory was 70 when the idea of a community garden came to him, but he’s been feeding people his entire life. Born and raised in Cleburne, Texas, 70 miles south of Denton, Gumfory remembers helping his father tend to a 10’ x 10’ garden. 

“He grew onions, radishes and tomatoes,” Gumfory recalled. “Those were his favorites.”

Though Gumfory didn’t go to college, he has a master’s degree from SOHK, School of Hard Knocks, he says. In 1963, he began working at Griff’s Hamburgers, known today as Griff’s Burger Bar. His work with Griff’s took him all over the U.S., and Gumfory eventually ran the restaurant chain’s training center.

When his father-in-law opened a Sonic Drive-In in Cleburne, Gumfory became acquainted with one of the managers. By 1971, Gumfory had also opened a Sonic — the first one located East of the Mississippi. Gumfory, his wife, Lynn, and their two children moved to Denton in 1986 to operate the Sonic on East University Drive. At one point, Gumfory was the owner and supervising partner for all Sonic locations in Denton and for 24 others in the surrounding area.

“I’m still a partner [of Sonic] today,” Gumfory says, “I just backed out of the working part of it, if you will. Gives me a little more time to work in the garden.” It also frees him up to devote more time to the Denton Kiwanis Club, which serves children in need.

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. — Ecclesiastes 4:12

People are drawn to Shiloh Field for a lot of reasons. To learn. To teach. To help. To connect with their pasts.

Young elementary students come out for field trips and learn how to care for seeds so they grow into hearty plants. Teenagers come to earn volunteer hours. Professors from University of North Texas and Texas Woman’s University teach nutrition classes out there. Even the regular volunteers learn different techniques from each other.

Gumfory gets a kick out of teaching younger kids not only about gardening, but also about having fun outdoors. One March weekend, a group of Cub Scouts came out to pull some weeds and check out the dozen or so chickens clucking around in the coop. After Gumfory helped each boy plant a seed in a small pot, which they got to take home, he played King of the Mountain with them, challenging them to see who could make to the top of a wood chip pile first.

“They had such a fine time,” Gumfory says. “They’ll remember that crazy old guy at the garden. ‘He tried to race us, but we knew we could beat him!’ They had a ball.”

Teenagers are just as impressionable. When they visit Shiloh Field, they often ask older volunteers why they do it.

“Because it’s what I enjoy doing,” Brian [LAST NAME] says. “I like to hang out with friends and build something and give back to the community. And if [the teenagers] see that and share some of those experiences, it’s really fun to watch that.” 

Even Gumfory, who was certified as a master gardener in 1994 and again in 2001, is still learning. A UNT transfer student from China recently taught him that the leaves of sweet potato vines are edible and a staple in many Chinese villages.

Many of the regular volunteers, who learned how to garden from their grandparents, parents or at other community gardens, often teach each other techniques they’ve picked up along the way. Gumfory also lets them use areas of the garden to test out different types of plants or gardening methods.

One Tuesday in March, several volunteers arrived in the morning to do some maintenance work on a drip irrigation system for the blackberry vines. Two of the men dug a hole two to three feet deep in the ground, while two others sawed off the bottom of a bucket.

The bucket will serve as a casing for the irrigation system’s valve, Michael Enad, one of the volunteers explains.

“We could go out and buy one for a hundred bucks. Or you can get one of those buckets,” he says, pointing to the one they’d just sawed off and placed in the hole. “They’re free and they work just as good,” says Enad, a retired UPS worker who volunteered many hours at a community garden in New Jersey before moving to Denton.

They all felt called to Shiloh Field for different reasons. Dean Urbanek, who’s been helping Gumfory since Shiloh Field’s beginning, originally came to help his brother grow tomatoes and now volunteers almost all of his time here.

Brendan Luft, an engineer for Frontier Communications, grew up on a small farm in Indiana before his family moved to Texas in 1983. After getting married and having kids, there wasn’t much time for gardening. 

“My mother died in ’06,” Luft says. “So when she passed away, I started gardening again.” Luft started with an individual plot but now comes out just to volunteer his time. 

Doug Herzog, another regular volunteer, says his grandparents originally got him interested in gardening. They’d had to learn to garden in order to feed themselves. “And so when I grew up and retired, I just had this mental picture that I would garden also, because that’s what grandparents do.”

And Bruce Wakefield, a pilot for American Airlines, says he’s been gardening since was a kid. “It’s also kind of a stress relief for me, too.”

Whatever brings them to the Shiloh Field, Gumfory is happy they’re there. Gumfory will turn 80 on May 29, and he’s grateful for what God has given him though the garden. “He allows me to come out and work and enjoy it, and it’s such a blessing. God ain’t through with me yet.”