Spotlight On......

The Pinetops Community Garden!

The Pinetops Community Garden is the primary local mission project of Pinetops Presbyterian Church. It is designed to provide fresh vegetables for people in need. It is also designed to help children learn about the value of gardening. The teachers in the local schools will use the garden as a learning lab, and the employees at the Vidant Family Medical Clinic will use fresh vegetables from the garden to benefit some of their patients. Partners include: Pinetops Presbyterian Church, The Town of Pinetops, local resident Marshall Dunn, Vidant Hospital, Conetoe Family Life Center, Edgecombe County public schools, Edgecombe Community College, Down East Partnership for Children, Lowes of Tarboro, CuriosiTees, the Boy Scouts, and many local citizens who are helping to shape and sustain this garden project. In 2017, the garden yielded over 2,000 pounds of fresh produce. Currently, there are 8 rows of vegetables and fruit which were planted by children in local schools.

The Pinetops Community Garden program is the result of a private memorial donation given to the family of Ann and Vines Cobb. Ann Cobb was a singer, a music teacher, choir director, promoter of the arts, and an enthusiastic supporter of community endeavors. John Vines Cobb, Jr. was a long-time Pinetops banker, member of the Board of Education, member of the Edgecombe County Board of Commissioners, and Mayor of Pinetops. He served as an elected official for 50 years. Ann and Vines served their church,

Pinetops Presbyterian, Pinetops and Edgecombe County. This garden is meant to honor their lifetime of community service.

Ann Warren: Pinetops Community Garden Administrator

"The Pinetops Community Garden is located behind the Pinetops Vidant Family Medical Clinic. The garden is available to help children and adults experience the value of gardening and enjoy fresh food. It is also a tool teachers in our local schools can use as a learning lab. The Pinetops garden is a community asset, a place for people to come together and work for the good of the community.

In past years there have been 24 rows of vegetables, herbs, blueberries, blackberries and flowers planted by the children in our local schools. Volunteers have harvested and maintained the garden, enjoyed vegetables with their families and shared vegetables with the Pinetops Vidant Family Medical Clinic and the community. The garden is for everyone who would like to help and get involved.

We would like to invite the community to get more involved by joining the Community Garden workday, Mondays at 7:00 pm."

2024 Schedule Updates Below:

We met March 4, 2024 at 5:30 in the Pinetops Presbyterian Fellowship Hall. We had lots of enthusiasm in the room for the planting of the spring garden. We will work with Down East Partnership for Children and Carver Elementary School's 2nd Graders. The planting dates will be on 3 consecutive Mondays as follows: April 8, April 15, and April 22. The rain dates are on Thursdays of the same weeks: April 11, April 18 and April 25. The times for volunteering on these days will be from 12:00 - 2:15.

Please let us know if you are available to help with groups on any of these dates. Volunteers are needed.

We also need donations of Butterfly Bushes, Bee Balm, Seed Potatoes, Onions, and/or Cabbage Plants. We also plan to plant sunflowers and wildflowers. Any contributions are always appreciated.

2025 Schedule Updates:

It's almost garden time for 2025. Our garden has received a story walk from Lauren Morris at Steps to Health at the Department of Agricultural and Human Sciences at NC State. The story walk is entitled "The Tomato Adventure" by Paige Pettigrew. We received laminated posters for each page of the story and stands for the posters. I know students at Carver will enjoy walking along a trail to read a story in the garden where they will help plant tomatoes.

One idea is to create a walking trail alongside the blueberry bushes and connect the trail to the walking trail beside the clinic. We need help creating the walking trail and welcome your ideas and contributions for this project.

We will be meeting to kick off this year's garden program in March.

We are planting the garden with Carver's 2nd graders Monday, April 7 beginning at 9:00. Volunteers are welcome to come about 15 minutes early to help cut potatoes. Our rain date is Wednesday, April 9th. Please let me know if you will be able to help Monday. We need all the volunteers we can get!

We now have a walking path for our StoryWalk thanks to Bryce Gardner and his parents Jim and Tiffany Gardner. Also thanks go to Oscar Mabry, Tom Stallings and Stacy Harrell. We will be sharing the The Tomato Adventure by Paige Pettigrew with the children during our time together.

The next planting dates are:

Monday, April 14 Rain Date is Wednesday, April 16

We will be planting more vegetables in the garden this coming Monday, April 14 at 9:00. All volunteers are asked to arrive at 8:45.

We had such a fun and successful time last Monday, so we encourage everyone to join us. We planted cabbage, potatoes, onions and sunflowers with the second graders at Carver. Down East Partnership for Children provided stations at school for tasting, literacy and physical activity. The students also enjoyed the StoryWalk. What a wonderful addition this is to the community garden.

This coming Monday, we will plant some tomatoes, zinnias, and more potatoes. We may also plant some zucchini and cucumber seeds.

Please join us for another fun day in the garden and please let me know if you plan to come.

Monday, May 5 Rain Date is Wednesday, May 7

Monday, May 12 Rain Date is Wednesday, May 14

Attached you will see the schedule from Down East Partnership which we will follow Monday morning. Also, check out the picture of the garden all disked and ready for planting!

Please come to the garden Monday if you can! In case of rain, we will see you Wednesday!