Piedmont Interfaith Network of Gardens

Mission
PING is a network of church-based community gardens in central North Carolina. PING helps churches celebrate their work, share information and resources, and provide healthy, fresh food to their communities.

Mailing List
To join the Come to the Table mailing list and recieive information about upcoming PING events and other NC events about food and faith, email Claire at Claire@rafiusa.org with "SUBSCRIBE - CTTT" in the subject line.

Join PING on NING (I promise, we didn't make it rhyme on purpose...)
Join PING as part of the NC Community Gardeners network on this social networking site. Ask questions, make connections, and find out about events!

Garden Events
Plant a Row for the Hungry Kick-Off - Saturday, June 13, 10am – 5:30pm at Logan Trading Co., 707 Semart Drive in downtown Raleigh.
Logan Trading Company, in partnership with the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, is launching a Plant a Row for the Hungry (PAR) campaign to encourage all gardeners to grow a little extra produce to donate to the hungry and homeless. The kick-off event will include activities for children, talks on growing and harvesting fruits and vegetables, and special give-aways.

Resources
Cultivating Community: Notes from Come to the Table's "Cultivating Community: Starting a Congregation-Sponsored Community Garden," November, 2007. (PDF)
Community Gardens: (PDF) A Come to the Table fact sheet
Recommended Community Garden Resources: A List from PING (PDF)


Helpful Links
NC Cooperative Extension Community Garden Website
American Community Gardening Association
National Gardening Association
Growing Small Farms: Planting schedules, pest control and other info for central North Carolina farms
Just Eating Curriculum: A Bible study curriculum on food and justice

Faith-Led Gardens in the News
By the Square Foot (on square-foot gardening and the St. Anne's Episcopal Church Peace Garden) - Winston-Salem Journal, June 6, 2009
Church Turning Eyesore into a Garden (on Main Street United Methodist's Garden) - Winston-Salem Journal, May 31, 2009
Planting the Seed (on gardens including one at Concord United Methodist Church) - The (Burlington)Times-News, May 22, 2009
Gardens Yield Food, Fruit of the Spirit (on Triangle gardens - Covenant, Anathoth, Simple Gifts and Interfaith Food Shuttle) - The (Raleigh) News and Observer, April 19, 2009
Seeds of Joy (on Anathoth Community Garden) - Winston-Salem Journal, Feb. 14, 2009
Share Work and Harvest (on Covenant Community Garden)- The News and Observer, July 27, 2008
Seagrove Community Garden Receives Grant from Fiskars - The Courier-Tribune, March 2, 2008
A Garden Becomes a Protest: The Field at Anathoth - Orion Magazine, July, 2007

Our Favorite Garden Books
Books in bold are available through the lending library at the Rural Advancement Foundation International - USA. Contact Claire, claire@rafiusa.org, for information.

How to Grow More Vegetables and Fruits (and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine, by John Jeavons

The Sustainable Vegetable Garden:A Backyard Guide to Healthy Soils and Higher Yields, by John Jeavons and Carol Cox

Seed to Seed:Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for the Vegetable Gardener, by Suzanne Ashworth and Kent Whealy

The Organic Gardener’s Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control: A Complete Problem-Solving Guide to Keeping Your Garden and Yard Healthy Without Chemicals, by Barbara W. Ellis and Fern Marshall Bradley

The New Organic Grower: A Master’s Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener, by Eliot Coleman and Francis Blake

Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long by Eliot Coleman, Barbara Damrosch, and Kathy Bray

All New Square Foot Gardening, by Mel Bartholomew

Great Garden Companions: A Companion-Planting System for a Beautiful, Chemical-Free Vegetable Garden by Sally Jean Cunnigham

Lasagna Gardening: A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Kidding! by Patricia Lanza

Simply in Season Cookbook, by Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-wert

Simply in Season Children’s Cookbook, by Mark Beach and Julie Kauffman

Stocking Up: The Third Edition of America’s Classic Preserving Guide, by Carol Hupping

Community Gardening (Brooklyn Botanic Garden All-Region Guide), by Elizabeth Tehle Peters and Ellen Kirby

Food and Faith: Justice, Joy and Daily Bread, ed. Michael Schut

The Essential Agrarian Reader, ed. Norman Wirzba

Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture:An Agrarian Reading of the Bible by Ellen Davis, forward by Wendell Berry


PING Partners Include:

Anathoth Community GardenSoutheast Region Heifer International Come to the Table Covenant Community Garden Seagrove Community Garden

PING
c/o Claire Hermann, RAFI-USA
PO Box 640
Pittsboro, NC, 27510
(919) 542-1396 x207
claire@rafiusa.org