The Build It Up program came at the perfect time for me and my family. Equipped with new information and resources, we made our first garden plan. The program helped us create and maintain a planting schedule, and an ambitious garden layout. Factoring in watering needs, sun orientation, and soil conditions, we started to really learn more about our land. And though it required a lot of hard, consistent work, we have been rewarded each day with progress.
Each workshop begins with an invitation to connect with someone you do not yet know. We are asked to spend a few minutes learning about their experiences, challenges, and goals. These simple conversations feel like planting seeds of friendship and collaboration. They remind me that growing food and growing community are not separate things. They are the same practice.
So while we wait for our gardens to take off later in spring, we may as well go ahead and eat the wild and free greens that are so readily available all around us. Wild greens can be used to create vibrant salads, they can be juiced, given to chickens as a treat, or they can be used in a variety of other creative ways.
Tabitha Dotson by guest author Jen Grant When Hurricane Helene hit Jonesborough and the Nolichucky River late last September, Tabitha Dotson of Dotson Farm had just sold her cattle for the year to allow the pastures time to rest. Her timing proved immensely fortunate....
David Phillips is Store Manager and Chef at Boone Street Market, the only year-round farm store, local only from a 100-mile radius, in the region. Boone Street Market is a part of Jonesborough Locally Grown, the Jonesborough Farmers Market. At Boone Street, 6 days a...
By Meisha Turner As we start the third year of building a garden at our home, we’ve definitely learned a few things along the way. Some things, we got right on the first attempt. Others… well, we’re still figuring it out. But, by now we’ve had a few opportunities to...
In these uncertain times, I believe the ability to grow our own food is a powerful tool for resilience—both for ourselves and those around us… Gardening is a big task, especially if you’ve never done it before. But the truth is, this program is designed for people like us — novices, dreamers, and doers who want to make a difference in their own lives and communities.
*LATEST: On March 12, SB207 passed the TN Senate! The House of Representatives will now be considering the bill over the last weeks of March* Last year Agriculture and Forestry contributed an estimated $103 billion to Tennessee’s $930+ billion economy. Of the10.8...
Zane Abplanalp and Amy Wincek are the multi-talented entrepreneurs behind Slowbird Bread Company and Leftfield Urban Farm, which you can find at the Jonesborough Farmers Market this upcoming season. Slowbird Bread was one of the East Tennessee applications to the...
Home is where the heart is, as the old adage goes. Usually one thinks of a farm as always being tied to one place. For farm operators Dylan Disque and Rachel Slaughter, their heart and home, and their farm, have moved with them in their travels. That's because...