Anathoth Community Garden Newsletter
April 2007

Greetings all,

From time to time we’ll invite a garden member to share a few thoughts on
Anathoth. Here’s the first of these reflections from Charlotte Hughes, the
person behind our new meditation garden.

“Roots Strong and Deep…”
Wow! Spring is a wonderful time to come and enjoy the garden. Every day
things look different.. If you have been there in the last few weeks you may
have noticed that a large brush pile has been cleared and there is a trail
head at the edge of the woods if you are looking down from the new steps to the deck. This is the entrance to the Katherine McDade Native Plant area. If you are new to the community you may not know who Ms. Katherine was; but if you grew up in Cedar Grove or have been here for a while your life was likely blessed in some way by Ms. Katherine. She had strong roots in this community. Her father, S.F. Nicks, was the pastor of Cedar Grove Methodist Church from 1933-1940. Ms. Katherine graduated from Duke in 1935 and taught elementary school in Orange County for 32 years. She didn't just teach school, she taught Sunday School, helped her husband in the fields, raised a family, and studied history, genealogy, art, and poetry. She loved wildflowers and especially appreciated the spring ephemerals. She knew where bloodroot, hepatica, columbine and many others grew wild in the community and felt it was important to enjoy and protect them. Her daughter, Jo Westbrook, remembers her mother taking her and her brother, Mac McDade, on a walk to a stream bank where she had found a bright cardinal flower, one of her favorites.  Memories of Ms. Katherine and my own love of native plants made me want to develop a special area at Anathoth where all could go for quiet reflection or to learn the interesting names of some of those plants.

Last fall Daniel showed me an area across the little creek that had a nice
canopy for shade plants. When I went back to look at it a second time there
was a lone but very bright and beautiful cardinal flower blooming right at
the waters edge. Its roots obviously were strong and deep because you could see where the water had washed over it at an earlier time. This little
flower was the encouragement that we needed to choose this site for the
Katherine McDade Native Plant Garden at Anathoth.
In January we had a wonderful workday clearing fallen branches, pulling
honeysuckle and moving the large brush pile to open up the edge of the
woods. That day I was given Tom Harville's name as a possible contact for
native plant rescue. A few weeks later I got a call from Tom and went to
pick up three little grocery bags of roots and tubers. They have turned into
about 50 little pots of Trillium, Bloodroot, May Apple, Wild ginger,
Christmas fern, and more. Some have already found their way to their new
permanent home in the garden nestled among the hundreds of spring beauties that were already there just wating to pop up and surprise us. Peter Kramer and Shane Jernigan built a wonderful bridge across the little creek and Carsten thinks they built it just for him to launch his boats. Peter built a couple of sturdy but comfortable benches.  If you stop by the first one
some time soon you will be able to enjoy the delicate blue flowers of a
Jacob's Ladder that is planted near the bench.  Is was another one that Ms.
Katherine had noted as a favorite.  We will be putting in more plants in the
next few weeks if you would like to come by and help. Or just come and rest.                                                               

 --Charlotte Hughes

New Workday Schedule:


•    Every Saturday 9-12noon, Wed. and Fri. 9-12noon, and Thursdays 4-7 pm. If you come in the mornings, please call ahead as we’re often at Infinity
Farm’s greenhouse.

 


Upcoming Events:


•    Spring Break at Anathoth—Volunteers for Youth will host two workdays at Anathoth during spring break. Monday April 2nd 9-12noon and Wed. April 4th 9-12noon. Everyone is welcome to join us.


•    Anathoth on NPR—Along with other speakers for the “Come to the Table” gathering, Fred will speak on NPR’s “The State of Things” about the
community garden. Tune in on Thursday April 5th at noon, 91.5 FM.
•    Gathering Wed. April 11th—“Come to the Table,” a one-day event at Cedar Grove UMC and Anathoth centered around issues of food, faith, and farming. To register and for more info go to this website: 
http://www.cometothetablenc.org/


•    Prison ministry April 15th—If you’re interested in getting involved in our
prison ministry we’ll be starting at the garden, come to Cedar Grove UMC at
noon following Sunday worship.


•    Hispanic Outreach—Sunday April 15th at 5pm we will host an informal info session in Spanish, at the garden, and will be inviting Hispanics in our
area to attend and become members at Anathoth. We are working with Heifer Project to coordinate this outreach. Let Fred know if you’d like to help.


•    Anathoth Featured on Farm Tour--Sat.-Sun. April 21-22, 1-5pm. Carolina Farm Stewardship Assoc. will host their annual tour of farms in the
Piedmont, and this year they’ve invited Anathoth to be one of six new farms. We expect between 30-50 people per day to visit. We need volunteers.   http://www.carolinafarmstewards.org/index.html