Mission: Anathoth Community Garden & Farm is a non-profit ministry healing divisions between neighbors and the land by growing food together in Cedar Grove, NC.
We do this by:
- Growing and distributing sustainably-raised vegetables through a sliding-scale Community Supported Agriculture program
- Teaching adult interns agrarian theology and equipping them to heal divisions in their own communities
- Employing local teenagers, including some with a history as juvenile offenders
- Fostering community by facilitating workdays, potlucks, worship services, and celebrations
History: Our work began in 2004 when in response to a nearby murder a local woman, Scnobia Taylor, donated five acres of land to Cedar Grove United Methodist Church. We take our name, Anathoth, from a Biblical passage where the prophet Jeremiah summons the Israelites to “plant gardens” and “seek the peace of the city” in response to violence (Jeremiah 29).
Vision: We envision people of faith engaging with root causes of violence, poverty, and malnutrition in rural communities by working collaboratively to create a more just, sustainable, and equitable food system.
Core values:
Sacredness of all creation: All people, living things, and places are sacred because they are created by God.
Health: The health of land, plants, animals, and people are inextricable. Healthy food is a right, not a privilege.
Reconciliation: We practice agriculture as a means of reconciling ourselves, our neighborhoods, and our land to one another and to God. We do this because we believe that many of our community’s deepest wounds (such as racism, classism, environmental degradation) stem from an agricultural history broken by slavery, factory farming, and inequitable land practices.
Nonviolence and Restorative Justice: Violence in rural communities is a manifestation of poverty, and poverty is often a consequence of economic marginalization. We believe harmful choices are best confronted by providing opportunity rather than simply punishment.
Agrarianism: Agriculture provides a profound way of understanding our place in creation, connecting with the land, and unifying people from diverse racial, ethnic, and socio-economic contexts. Agrarianism uses agriculture as a lens for interpreting theological, philosophical, political, and economic systems.
Reciprocity: Reciprocity is the foundation of community. All of us thrive when we have opportunities to give and receive.
Sharing Our Faith: We learn more by listening, we teach more by doing. Communion, the Lord’s supper, informs our belief that life, embodied in the food we eat together, is a gift to be received and shared with others freely.