Build It Up Blog
The Build It Up Blog includes entries from our gardners discussing their gardening journey and guides from our program staff regarding when to start your seeds, when to put transplants in the ground, when to fertilize, and more!
Gardener Story: Fernanda Dezta
Our family is happy to be a part of the Build It Up program and the opportunity to create abundance for our home. It was our first year gardening and we were excited to experiment and learn. The experience came with many high points and some low points that allowed...
Gardener Story: Tara Swiger
This is our first year having a garden. This is also our first summer in our first house. We’ve had tomatoes and basil plants on the porch of rentals, but we’ve never had SPACE the way we do this year. The hardest part was deciding what to plant! We poured...
Gardener Story: Kayla Sanchez
I am a city girl. I’ve lived in apartments almost all of my life and I had never considered growing a garden. I was not a fan of the outdoors, sweating, dealing with bugs...nope it was not for me. In 2020 we got locked down and my daughter was BORED. I was trying to...
Gardener Story: Kirstin Blackburn
Gardening always brings certain thoughts to my mind. Mostly, thoughts about my ability to survive in pioneering days. I always wonder if my vegetable patch would be enough to feed my family of six, or if we would succumb to starvation and dysentery, like in the old...
Gardener Story: MeMe Ansbro
Thyme to Turnip the Beet! My name is MeMe and I’m 34. I am from Northern California but I’ve lived in East Tennessee for 13 years on one and a half acres of farmland on the Greene County line. I am a stay at home mom and caregiver to a niece and nephew. I’m pretty...
Gardener Story: Kelly Foster
This was not our first year “doing a garden” but it was really our first time trying to systematically learn how to garden properly. I think, for our family, a lot of this was brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and fueled by a lot of time in our home space and a...