Seagrove Community Garden

Garden work day.....

2009-06-09T07:35:00.000-07:00

Latest images.....

2009-04-24T10:54:00.001-07:00

Images by Susan Greene

Work day.....

2009-03-10T08:28:00.000-07:00

The warm day, the warm earth and the fellowship of other gardeners brought the promise of another bountiful garden season. It was a joy to be back in the garden, preparing it for the new growing seasons. What a joy to harvest the winter crop of spinich, to share with others, and to taste it's delicious flavor. God is good and we are blessed. Debbie Dowling

20 people arrived Saturday morning 3/7, at 10 am to help kick off the Seagrove Community Gardening season. We welcomed returning members; Tom and Slate Gray, Tim, Susan and Jeffery Greene, Bob and Debbie Dowling, Venetia Smith, Bonnie Burns and granddaughters Lexi & Emma, Donna Brown, new member Alexa Modderno, and appreciated the support from nearby Stargarden’s Anne & Adam, Andreas and Lyza, also Gail and Brenda from Wilmington and Jeff, Slate’s cap worker. We enjoyed coffee and conversation in the fellowship hall before gathering tools and heading over to the garden.

The objective of the day was to clean up the fall debris, pile up all the garden stakes, tomato cages and trellises. We moved piles and piles of withered tomato vines and okra tree stems to the compost. It had been too wet the previous week due to an all day rain followed by 4 inches of snow to get a load of the lovely composted cow manure/top soil mix from our supplier Barry Brown. Fortunately, we still had half a load left from last year to be spread.

We did weeding in the beds, thinned spinach for harvest and layered shredded paper and compost mix on top of beds. We also built one untreated lumber, 4’ by 8’ by 16” H raised bed and filled it with a mix of shredded paper, leaves and composted soil. We plan to put in several more of the raised beds to make it easier on backs and knees.

After several hours we headed back to the fellowship hall to enjoy a lunch of baked ziti, Mexican vegetable stew, fresh bread and an Asian inspired spinach salad with spinach from the garden that was planted last October. Chocolate cupcakes, and other sweets topped off the meal.

All in all it was a great beginning to what promises to be another productive year. We are grateful for all we learned last year and thankful to be so much further along than we were this time last year, with the majority of our rows now ready to be planted. Pastor Bob has already filled row 10 and part of row 11 with spring plants-broccoli, cauliflower, English peas and sugar snap peas. Bonnie plans to fill row 4 with turnips, greens, lettuce, and edamame. Beth will be filling row 6 with cut flowers and herbs. Barbara will be planting tomatoes, cucumber, squash and peppers when it warms up a bit. Donna will be planting roses in the middle of row 3. We will continue to harvest our spinach until it gets too warm and begins to bolt. Hopefully, by then the Amish paste tomatoes and California Wonder bell pepper that Susan started this week will be ready to go into the ground.

Pre-planting.....

2009-02-27T09:07:00.000-08:00

We hope to have quite a bit of activity in and about the garden over the next 2 Saturdays. Saturday morning the 28th. at 10 we will meet to assign "parcels" of garden space. This year we will be doing things a little differently in order to decentralize responsibilities. Although the produce will still be shared communally, individuals, families or small groups will "adopt a bed" and be responsible for planting, weeding and otherwise caring for that space. If it rains we will meet in the back lobby of Seagrove United Methodist Church.

On Saturday March 7th. at 10 we will start rebuilding the beds using leaves, shredded paper and topsoil/manure mix. As it stands right now people are coming from as far away as Wilmington, a group from Covenant Garden in Fuquay-Varina, and hopefully even some college kids from UNCG. We will start by tilling up the old beds, then applying the compostable materials and finally the soil/manure mix. If you wish to join us and have a wheelbarrow, shovel, or hoe, please bring them along. We will gather in the Seagrove United Methodist Church parking lot at 10, and later have a covered dish meal around 12 or so.

Lasagna gardening.....

2008-11-29T08:27:00.000-08:00

Tony Garner and I spent part of the morning building up one of the eleven beds in the garden before the rain ran us off. We're using a concept called lasagna gardening, or lasagna composting. The raised beds can be made with layers of any compostable material---leaves, shredded paper, manure and straw mix, imported top soil, etc. We started by hand tilling the existing beds to "fluff them up," then added a layer of shredded paper, and finally a layer of cow manure/topsoil mix. This bed is the furtherest away from the soil mix and bags of shredded paper, so the next ten beds shouldn't take quite so long to build. As it is in the bottom of the garden, bottom meaning the lowest area, we built it up higher than the other beds will require, just to ensure better drainage. We also extended both ends of the bed, which added another approximately forty square feet of area in which to plant. By the time we finish with the other ten beds we will probably have added another two hundred square feet plus of space in which to plant. All in all it was a great morning---good friends, good stories, a good workout, and an opportunity to be part of something bigger than ourselves. Just a little over two months and we'll start our seedlings indoors for next springs garden. A reminder to anyone who wanders into the garden---PLEASE do not walk on the beds! One more thing---a big thanks to Fiskar's and Heifer International who provided us with mini-grants to buy tools, deer fencing and an irrigation system.

Food conferences.....

2008-10-28T11:22:00.000-07:00

There are four different food conferences going on in North Carolina over the same time period in February and early March. If you are any type of foodie, community gardener, have concerns about the hungry, or are a food revolutionary of any sort, you should find a conference somewhere in this great state where you will fit right in.

(1) Come to the Table - Feb. 25th. - Garysburg - Feb 26th. - Boone - Feb. 27th. - Charlotte.
(2) Read Food Real Medicine - February 27th. - March 1st. - Chapel Hill.
(3) The Hunger Conference - February 27th. and 28th. - Raleigh.
(4) Food Summit - March 2nd. and 3rd. - Raleigh.

We hope you will check out the different conference links, find a conference that is calling your name, and will attend.

Vespers.....

2008-10-28T04:15:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon the Seagrove Community Garden hosted a service of thanksgiving for the garden's bounty, and a serpentine prayerful/contemplative walk through the garden, all followed by a chili supper at the Seagrove UMC's fellowship hall.

Vespers --- in this case, 2 hymns, 2 psalms, a story and a prayer.

Prayerful, serpentine walk through the garden's aisles, reading the quotes on peace and reconciliation.

Pastor Bob.

The mayor of Whynot, the honorable Bill Spencer, pontificating.

Venetia Smith, garden's head cheerleader, flanked by her son Tim, and daughter-in-law Susan.

The honorable Mrs. Mayor of Whynot, Sue Spencer, the lady whose formidable task is to keep the mayor on track.

Stacye and Slate.

Thanksgiving/prayer/chili.....

2008-10-16T07:33:00.000-07:00

On Sunday afternoon October 26th., at 3:30 PM, we will be hosting a short service of thanksgiving, a silent, prayerful, serpentine walk-thru of the garden, and a chili supper in the fellowship hall of Seagrove United Methodist Church. We hope you will be able to attend.

Prayer vigil follow up.....

2008-08-26T09:08:00.000-07:00

Last night we held a prayer vigil inside the boundaries of Seagrove Community Garden. It was a silent, serpentine walk through the garden, where passages of scripture and quotes about peace and reconciliation could be read and contemplated. There was also a space for Eucharist. Approximately 25 people joined us. The much needed rain showed up about an hour before the vigil, and let off about 15 minutes before it was to begin. The following images of some of the quotations, and the vegetable and flower images at the bottom, were taken the morning after the vigil. We hope that they will impact your heart as they did ours.
We have had a bumper crop of several varieties of tomatoes over the last month or so, and still have some clinging to their vines.

Winter squash, still a few weeks from fruitition.
The moon and stars watermelons have been a big hit, in fact, we have a fall crop too, just starting to produce fruit.
Before long we're going to need a ladder to harvest the okra!
Sunflowers as high as a man's head.....
Our organic basil makes the best pesto!
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God in heaven, thank you for the rain, and for the people who joined us in prayer. Amen.

Prayer vigil.....

2008-08-18T10:02:00.000-07:00

We invite you and your families and neighbors into a healing place - the Seagrove Community Garden, 323 N. Broad Street, next to the Dairy Breeze. On Monday night, August 25th, drop in any time between the hours of 7:00 pm and 8:30 pm. Park at the Dairy Breeze, walk next door, and join us in silent meditation and reflection for the healing of our community.

Mission Statement
In faithful partnership with God and one another, the Seagrove Community Garden is an agent of Christian hospitality and sharing.
The garden community will:
*Enrich the soil and preserve the land through hands-on gardening practices.
*Produce fresh, high quality vegetables and fruits.
*Teach each other sustainable gardening techniques, healthy ways of meal planning, cooking and preserving whole foods.
*Encourage the building of cooperation and friendship among members and guests.

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes.....

2008-07-24T18:27:00.000-07:00

Tis the season, for tomatoes that is, and cucumbers, and chili peppers, and okra, and cantaloupe and watermelon. I think we have 4 varieties of tomatoes in our garden, and 3 out of 4 are ready to be picked this week. The cherry tomatoes are almost a pain in the patoot as they are so abundant, and very good at hiding. The Roma's and Amish Paste have been plentiful as well, and the German Johnsons are turning pink but not quite there, in abundance anyway. The image is of Bonnie, Slate and Melissa picking cherry tomatoes.

Although the Japanese beetles seem to love the okra leaves, we are still harvesting quite a bit of okra. It was prepared and served on the spot at our ribbon-cutting last week, and very much appreciated. Okra is pretty good at hiding too. Donna and Luther are seen here prying them away from their hiding places.

Sometimes the easiest way to keep the perimeter and aisles manageable is to just jump on a riding mower and have at it. Benjamin sure does love riding around on his equipment!

Ribbon cutting.....

2008-07-22T08:13:00.000-07:00

Beth Norris - "The garden was beautiful and so many folks turned out for the ribbon cutting. It has been such a joy to have so many people active in this project. The right people show up at the right time. Usually just enough
gardeners turn out every time the garden is open. And our purpose, to grow healthy food and to feed others is coming true. We are growing stronger as a community because of the garden. The Fiskars grant has made that possible. We would not have been this far along in this project without this grant and I am so grateful that they as a company are right there with us. Thanks Fiskars!"

Gina Garner - "It was a great event. The garden, though challenges being faced from time to time, is truly one of God's handiworks."

Debbie Dowling - "I am so grateful to be experiencing the Seagrove Community Garden. On the night of the ribbon cutting the garden's vision was a reality with organic vegetables and fruit for a delicious feast, herbs to share, neighbors visiting with each other, time for reflection, a covered shelter, tables, chairs, and cooking on the site. The bounty of the garden was enjoyed in so many ways. I caught a father and daughter enjoying each other's company while they strolled down the garden paths, new and old gardeners learning about the benefits of nasturtiums and marigolds, a handicapped van driving up the path to see what was going on with our garden. It was a night to remember."

Susan Greene - "A great write up in the Sunday paper. Watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber and onion with dill and sour cream salad, ratatouille, sautéed swiss chard with onion and garlic, chopped swiss chard stalks with pasta in a cream reduction sauce, zucchini bread, homemade bread, tomato, cucumber and onion salad vinaigrette, sautéed okra, fried okra, herbs and flowers in a local potters vase, the mayor cutting our ribbon with giant orange handled shears, a town council woman, friends, love, community members all together, all in our garden, all from our garden, great food and fellowship, sustainable agriculture sustaining us all. It was a memorable night indeed."

PING workshop.....

2008-06-28T15:15:00.000-07:00

Four members of Seagrove Community Garden spent today at a workshop on beekeeping and building cross-cultural community at Anathoth Community Garden in Cedar Grove, NC. We spent the day working in their garden, sharing a phenomenal pot-luck lunch, listening to 2 Argentine beekeepers, and finished up the afternoon with a panel discussion about inviting other cultures into our community gardens. This was the 5th.workshop in a six-part series sponsored by PING, a collaborative effort between our garden, Covenant in Fuquay-Varina, NC, and Anathoth. The final workshop will be held at Cedar Grove UMC and will be about food preservation.

We spent much of the morning digging potatoes and pulling up onions.

Georgia, Beth and Susan taking a break in the shade.The beekeepers from Argentina.

Whew! Summertime.....

2008-06-07T12:44:00.000-07:00

Yep. It's summer time. Although we got a lot of harvesting accomplished this morning, that was all we did, for the most part, and that in less than 2 hours. Today we harvested a few sugar snap peas, lots of leaf lettuce, scallions, a few peppers and quite a bit of swiss chard. Our several varieties of squash are blossoming and will soon be ready for harvesting, the potatoes too. Both the peppers and tomatoes are hanging with fruit, and the corn is thigh-high and tassling. Ain't nothing like fresh sweet corn!

Venetia Smith cutting off the first heads of lettuce.

Tony Garner, taking over in the lettuce quadrant, while Barbara Graves and Debbie Dowling harvest sugar snaps.

Blair Dowling checking the progress on the squash.

Venetia and Barbara taking a well-deserved water break while harvesting Swiss chard.

Kids day.....

2008-05-31T16:15:00.000-07:00

The PING workshop today at Covenant Community Garden in Fuquay-Varina was all about the kids. They spent the morning harvesting, mulching beds, hauling coarse mulch for walkways, and preparing an old bed for a new crop. After a pot-luck lunch and an afternoon worship service, the younger kids went off for a reading of Stone Soup, and the older kids stayed with the adults who were taught about urban market gardening by young folks from SEEDS.

Chris Burtner, garden manager of Covenant Community Garden, and Slate Gray and Jeff Daniels.

Kane Martinez, Slate and Jeff harvesting carrots.

Michael Martinez - not at all camera shy!

Lisa Martinez, Jeff and Slate sorting out the bad from the good carrots.

Susan Greene (co-manager of Seagrove Community Garden) and Lisa working in the herb beds.Ricardo, Markyse and Anthony, youth from SEEDS in Durham, pointing out one of the features of the urban, market garden where they are employed. Here's a blurb about SEEDS from the Durham Farmer's Market web site.....
SEEDS Community Garden has been an oasis nestled between residential and industrial neighborhoods in Northeast Central Durham since 1994. The produce we bring to the Durham Farmers Market is raised by the Durham Inner-city Gardeners (DIG), a youth-led urban farming leadership development program that has been a part of SEEDS for the past 8 years. Our quarter-acre market garden is a former parking lot that is now a balanced ecosystem of plants and pollinators.
DIG empowers teens by teaching gardening, sound business practices, healthy food choices and food security values. The program emphasizes sustainable living and growing practices, ecological balance, and the natural recycling of organic materials for plant health and nourishment. DIG youth are paid a stipend to cultivate the fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers and mushrooms that they sell at the Durham Farmer's Market. We also sell our produce to LocoPops and the Durham Food Co-op.

The green invasion.....

2008-05-27T04:38:00.000-07:00

Gardening is an experimental enterprise, a constant learning opportunity, with it's own learning curve. You can ask 25 gardeners the best way to grow tomatoes and receive 25 different answers. What works in one garden might not work in another. On top of all the things we can control, there are always things we cannot control. This spring has been ideal for a burgeoning garden, and a mix of experienced, novice, organic and non-organic gardeners. We have had plenty of timely rain, followed by plenty of warmth and sunshine. Consequently, our garden is becoming pretty lush, and our battle with weeds (green invasion) has become an ongoing process. We are having plenty of successes, and our failures have been minimal. We are also learning from our mistakes, growing as individuals, as a community, and as gardeners. To top it off - we get to eat better food simply because it wasn't imported 1,500 miles, it's pesticide and herbicide free, we are invested in it's production, and we're having fun while doing it.

Debbie Dowling after spending a considerable amount of time thinning out the Swiss chard.

Tim Greene pushing Slate Gray pushing the lawn mower.
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Several of us will be attending a PING workshop this Saturday in Covenant Community Garden at Fuquay-Varina UMC. The focus of this workshop is "kids and youth in the garden." Call Claire at (919) 542-1396 x 207 for more info, directions and to register.

Monday night in the garden.....

2008-05-20T04:40:00.000-07:00

We accomplished much last night - Benjamin Burns brought his walk behind bush hog and cleaned up the area surrounding the garden, while his wife Bonnie, and her daughter Lisa and grandson Michael twined peas and mulched. Slate and Jeff arrived in time to haul mulch and covered up some beds as well.

Twining and mulching

Our first jalapeno.

A rare shot - Slate not talking and Lisa leaning. They must be tired.

The Romas are looking good.

Weeding, thinning, planning and first tomato.....

2008-05-10T09:25:00.000-07:00

With all the rain we've had this past week, interspersed with plenty of sunshine, our garden is really taking off! So are the weeds. We spent some time in a planning session, trying to chart a more defined course for our next few workdays, and some time thinning out the carrots too. Even though our numbers were few, we got quite a bit accomplished. Hmmmmmhhh, chopping weeds while conversing with both new and old friends is a pretty good way to spend a Saturday morning. Oh yeah, the last image is of our first tomato. Yippee!

Garden images.....

2008-05-03T13:55:00.000-07:00

The following are random images taken from our 3rd. workday, Saturday, April 19.

2nd. workday.....

2008-04-19T14:16:00.001-07:00

Another three rows planted Saturday by faithful Seagrove Community Gardeners - Pat VonCannon, Donna Brown, Pat Callicutt, Venetia Smith, Tom Gray, Linda Bohn, Jim Bohn, Bobby Shelton, Tim, Susan and Jeffery Greene. We welcomed four new family members this week. Hooray!
Garden HQWe started the morning preparing beds by clod busting with rakes and hoes. This was the weekend for tomatoes and bush beans, squashes, melons and corn. One group planted row four with alternating 4’ squares of German Johnson (eating tomatoes) then a square of Heritage Bountiful bush beans, Roqq Paste (roma) tomatoes, more BB beans, cherry tomatoes, BB beans, Mt. Spring (supposed to be a good eating tomato!), BB beans, more German Johnsons, more BB beans. We plan on erecting a trellis system over the tomatoes to train them up and not out. A little later (warmer) we’ll companion plant plenty of basil in the tomato squares. Yum, fresh spaghetti sauce and pesto! Now if we could just find a local source for parmigiana reggiano…Row five got planted with alternating squares of Heritage green squash, more German Johnsons, Heritage golden hubbard squash, Botanical yellow crookneck squash, muskmelon (cantaloupe) and Heritage Star and Moon Watermelon.

Other members stayed busy repotting the Heritage Amish paste tomato and marigold seedlings that we started on April 5^th. Another week or two in their individual pots and they’ll be ready to go into the ground. Still other members grabbed various hacking and cutting tools and whacked away at the brush and vines that threaten to merge with our deer fence in the near future. Lastly we planted a final row of yellow sweet corn, next weekend we plan on planting more…is there such a thing as too much sweet corn?

We also made headway this week on our drip irrigation system, purchasing the majority of the hoses and parts that we need. We are SO thankful to the folks at Fiskar for giving us an $800 gift certificate to Home Depot as part of our winning grant; it is enabling us to make great strides converting our community garden vision into a very real entity. We are also grateful for Heifer International giving us such a wide variety of heritage seeds. It is immensely satisfying to be planting and raising vegetables that come with their own unique and individual histories and stories…just like our families.

Oh, and Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon God showered us with rain once again with perfectly divine timing. We are so very blessed!

First planting day.....

2008-04-14T17:27:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning 4/12 started off cloudy & warm, not hot - perfect for sowing seeds and planting seedlings, onions and potatoes. Fifteen eager community gardeners clad in orange Fiskar's Project Orange Thumb tee shirts gathered around, ready to dive in to the tasks at hand at the first “official” workday of the Seagrove Community Garden. We all posed for commemorative group photos with our clean shirts and tools - all shiny and new! After the pictures we formed a circle and held hands as the Rev. Bob Dowling led us in a prayer and blessing. We went around the circle and introduced ourselves. Susan gave a brief introduction to the group of our organic gardening methods and the square-foot garden idea, demonstrating visually with a square foot grid made from wood strips. She explained the intensive planting design that discourages weed growth and promotes plant health through diversity and companion planting that discourages pests.

The first task at hand was to grab a rake or hoe and break up some of the larger dirt clods in the three beds we planned on sowing. The gardeners broke into smaller groups to accomplish a number of goals. In the next few hours, we planted 8 - 4’ beds of Kennebec, Cobbler and Yukon potatoes that should be ready to harvest mid-July. 128 lettuce seedlings and 144 spinach seedlings were transplanted to begin our salad days. One flat of marigolds was evenly distributed among the 3 rows. We planted a bed of beets, a bed of carrots and lots of radishes. We hope to get at least one picking from 4 - 20’ rows of sugar snap peas by mid-June and we put in over 300 each of yellow and white onions. We should have our first salads in about 7 weeks! Several members took on the job of planting new seed trays for successive planting and seeded 5 trays of nasturtiums, marigolds and romaine lettuce.Three hours later we began to call it a day as we finished filling the majority of the intended three 50’ x 4’ rows. Hot, dirty and tired but full of satisfaction from a job well done we parted ways after high fives, hugs and a sense of camaraderie. As soon as we left, God in his infinite wisdom gifted us with a perfect shower of gentle rain.

Deer fence, day one.....

2008-04-08T15:11:00.001-07:00

As a result of our sharing a Heifer International planning grant with 2 other faith-based gardens, we have started work on our deer fence. As we began planning on how to spend available grant monies we were advised to do 2 things first - build a fence to keep deer out, and build an irrigation system. It will probably take us another week to finish installing the fence, and by then our lettuce and spinach seedlings should be ready to plant. This Saturday, God willing and weather permitting, our gardeners will be planting potatoes and onions.

Doris Jean Barrett, the lady who graciously loaned the land for the garden. James Davis is running the Bobcat with the auger, making quick work of post hole digging.
James and Mary Davis, the folks that did most of the work.

Bill Spencer and Mary Davis, pruning brush to make room for the deer fence.
Tom, Bob, James and Mary, mixing quik-crete.

James Emery, Bob Dowling and James Davis setting one of the white oak posts for the deer fence.
Tom Gray, James Emery and Bob Dowling setting another post.

Odds and ends.....

2008-04-06T10:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some more images from our PING workshops here at Seagrove and Anathoth.

Our steering committee.

3 of our garden members.

Working on the raised beds in Seagrove.

Workshop on transplanting seedlings at Anathoth.

Hoophouse greens.Mixing compost at the workshop at Anathoth.

In the news.....

2008-04-02T16:37:00.000-07:00

Today's edition of the local newspaper, the Courier-Tribune, ran an article about our garden. The article was in reference to a grant we received from Fiskar's, and a presentation to the Seagrove town council by garden committee member Venetia Smith. Images and more about the Fiskars grant coming soon.

Storing compost starter.....

2008-04-01T18:19:00.001-07:00

Because this particular starter is time sensitive it must be stored in a cool dark environment. Spragnum peat moss is dampened and spread in the bottom of the box made of untreated lumber. The lid is also filled with the dampened moss and sealed. The starter is stored in small amounts in clean baby food jars, small holes in the lids allow the starter to breathe. The jars are nestled into the moss, set 3 inches apart on all sides and held in place with boards that have holes cut in them. The lid is set and the whole unit is stored in a cool, dark, dry place.

Why so much attention to storage? Biodynamic gardening views the soil (and the whole earth) as a living organism. I viewed this starter as an entire civilization. If not handled properly it will be rendered useless. The civilization will die. In a homeopathic sense the starter we have is a healing agent. What we have here will balance and heal the soil in our garden. At least that is my understanding of it. One of our hopes for this garden is that it be healing ground.

Surrender to surprise.
God is good, all the time, God is good.
Beth

Seed propagation, composting and succession planting.....

2008-03-29T16:50:00.000-07:00

Members of the Seagrove Community Garden spent the day at a workshop on seed propagation, composting and succession planting at Anathoth Community Garden, Cedar Grove, NC. This was the 2nd. workshop in a series of 6 PING workshops, all funded by Heifer International. The next workshop will be held at Anathoth as well, and will cover biointensive gardening, pest management and soil building.

Welcoming God and Other Strangers.....

2008-02-28T04:29:00.000-08:00

Saturday, February 23rd. we held the first in a six-part workshop series on faith-based community gardening in conjunction with PING, Covenant Community Garden, Heifer International, Anathoth Community Garden, and Come to the Table. Seven families became members of our garden community that day, we also received many visitors, and were assisted in building 3 raised beds by folks from Anathoth and Covenant Community Gardens. We gathered together, told our stories, and broke the bread.Venetia Smith welcoming our guests.

Pilgrimage to the garden.

Everyone finding their niche and pitching in.Fred Bahnson, manager of Anathoth Community Garden.
Shoveling and hauling manure.John Hughes reminiscing on Anathoth's first year.Slate Gray pitching in.Catching a breath between working in the garden and lunch. Chris Burtner, garden manager at Covenant Community Garden in Fuquay-Varina, is the lady in the middle with her hands wrapped around the coffee cup.Carving the turkey. After all, it was a day of thanksgiving.There was plenty of food.Some of our guests.
Beth Norris speaking on Christian hospitality and community.Chris Franks speaking on communion as hospitality.Rich Church speaking on hospitality and creation.

Part of the assembly.

The Lord's supper - communion - Eucharist - thanksgiving.

Photographs courtesy of Claire Hermann, director of Come to the Table.

Mule team.....

2008-02-18T16:32:00.001-08:00

One of our neighbors, Wayne Hussey, brought in Mabel and Jane this past Saturday to start building what will become our raised beds.

They plowed up 11 beds in no time at all. In fact, we spent more time driving back to Wayne's to replace a broken plow point than they did actually plowing. On the way to his home, Wayne showed me an 8 acre plot and a 5 acre plot he had just plowed under with his mules. The mules might be pulling the plow, but the driver has to work too. Considering what they usually do, our little job was a piece of cake.

Eleven beds (some 36 ft. long) may not seem like much, but I think we're going to have our hand's full when it comes time to do the weeding and harvesting!

Last tractor, we hope.....

2008-02-12T12:57:00.000-08:00

Slate Gray watching Tim Davis load horse manure into a spreader at Callicutt Stables here in Seagrove.

John Callicutt, stable owner and horse trainer, with one of the manure providers.

Tim Davis, stable employee.

Tim spreading manure on the garden area.

We hope to have a mule and plow in here on Saturday to start building the raised beds, and after that, we also hope the garden will be entirely worked by hand. There might be a few areas that require the use of a lawn mower and a weed eater, but other than that, all by hand. God willing. Thanks to the Callicutts for providing the "fertilizer" for our community garden. Having a stable less than a mile from the garden is a plus.
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I hope those of you reading this have chosen to come to our Piedmont Interfaith Network of Gardens workshop on Saturday the 23rd. Be sure and call Claire Hermann at (919) 542-1396 x207 to register. Here's the schedule of the day's events.

Welcoming God and Other Strangers
Hospitality, Communion and Sharing the Fruits of the Garden
Feb 23, 2008

Agenda
Seagrove Community Garden-Sowing Seeds of Faith

9:00 a.m. Registration, Coffee Connection--Fellowship Hall
9:30 a.m. Gathering in the Sanctuary
Welcome--Venetia Smith
9:45 a.m. Pilgrimage to the Garden
10:00 a.m. Work Share- Tom Gray
Stories about the Garden-Tom Gray
Group I: Building Beds
Group II: Sowing Seed Trays
12:00 Noon Return to Church
12:15 p.m. Blessing the Bread-Rev. Bob Dowling
Potluck Lunch
Workshops
1:00 p.m. Communion As Hospitality- Rev. Chris Franks
1:30 p.m. Christian Hospitality and Community-Beth Norris
2:00 p.m. Break-Fellowship Hall
2:15 p.m. Hospitality to Creation-Rich Church
2:45 p.m. Panel Discussion
Rev. Chris Franks, Beth Norris, Rich Church, Tom Gray, Fred Bahnson, Chris Burtner, Claire Hermann and Ginger Deason
3:15 p.m. Eucharist--Rev. Bob Dowling & Rev. Chris Franks
3:45 p.m. Blessing and Sending Forth--Rev. Bob Dowling

2008 workshops.....

2008-01-10T10:14:00.000-08:00

Below you will find the schedule of community gardening workshops we will be participating in, along with our friends from Anathoth Community Garden in Cedar Grove, Come to the Table (a venture of the NC Council of Churches), Covenant Community Garden in Fuquay-Varina, and Heifer International. The midday meal will be potluck, and we ask that you bring food as well, BUT, if bringing food is a problem we'd rather have you there. Our flyer is also available in .pdf format.

2008 Saturday Workshops

Workshops are held the last Saturday of each month, February through July. They are free and open to the public. To register or for more information, call Claire Hermann at (919) 542-1396 x207.

9 a.m.- 12 p.m.- Garden Workshare
12 - 1 p.m. - Potluck Lunch
1- 4 p.m. - Workshop

Welcoming God and Other Strangers
Hospitality, Communion and Sharing the Fruits of the Garden
February 23, Seagrove Community Garden, Seagrove, NC

Planting the Garden
Seed Propagation, Composting and Succession Planting
March 29, Anathoth Community Garden, Cedar Grove, NC

Enriching the Soil
Biointensive Gardening, Pest Management and Soil Building
April 26, Anathoth Community Garden, Cedar Grove, NC

Youth in the Garden
Youth Ministries and Community Gardens
May 31, Covenant Community Garden, Fuquay Varina, NC

Reaching Across Cultures
Immigrant Gardeners Teach Beekeeping and Community Building
June 28, Anathoth Community Garden, Cedar Grove, NC

Storing the Harvest
Food Preservation
July 26, Anathoth Community Garden, Cedar Grove, NC

Harvest Celebration
Sharing and Celebrating the Year’s Lessons
November 1, Location TBA

Garden photos.....

2008-01-07T09:03:00.001-08:00

In the beginning.....

James bush hogging the garden spot.

Better, huh?

Bob (pastor of Seagrove UMC) and Danny unloading a truck load of leaves for mulch.

Here's what Seagrove Community Garden looks like after being plowed, tilled, spread with chicken litter, and sown with rye. By next summer, God willing, it will bear some resemblance to the garden of Eden.