It’s here. The garden classes are in gardens, the cooking classes are in kitchens, the nature study is in forests, the raspberries taste like raspberries, and the snozzberries taste like snozzberries! I worked for weeks on the lesson plans for these hands-on classes, workshops, and tours and am so excited to finally roll them out. Click here for my entire…
When I founded the SC Upstate Permaculture Society I had no idea we’d be this popular, but we’re up to 644 members with multiple people joining each week. If you live in upstate South Carolina (or nearby) we welcome you to join us. Last October we broke ground on a huge new garden that is already stacking functions by being…
Our garden open house (rain or shine) is THIS coming Saturday! APPALACHIAN FEET GARDEN OPEN HOUSE DETAILS: Drop-in June 14th, 9:00am – 5:00pm Recommended donation of $2-$5 440 Summit Drive, Greenville, SC You may also want to catch Eliza’s TEDx presentation at Zen on Tuesday, June 17th at 5:30pm. Additionally, Eliza wrote the feature article (on pawpaws) in the latest…
It’s chicken-mania at Appalachian Feet lately. We started with 27 chickens in early May with the goal of keeping 6 for our personal backyard flock. Yesterday, we said goodbye to 21 of them (they are destined for good, free-range farm homes with people we know). We’re glad to know these laying hens will be treated well, but that doesn’t make…
After the warm months we gardeners are either squeezing as much remaining produce as possible from our plants before the threat of frost, or we’re incredibly grateful for an excuse to stop harvesting… finally! Last weekend we decided the weather prediction was chilly enough to go ahead and strip the garden bare. We ended up with a backseat and trunk…
Don’t get me wrong — I love vacations. Edisto Island in May was paradise and our family spent June bonding on a cross-country trip. One thing I learned on the way to California and back was that your home’s location is everything — but you can certainly add your own personal touches. Click for larger photos. If you get an…
It’s time to plant summer veggies! If you didn’t start transplants early there is no time now — get to a garden center or farmers market and purchase some tomato, eggplant, pepper, artichoke, celery, sweet potato (slips), herbs, and tomatillos before they’re all gone (or stressed from neglect). For beans, cucumbers, melons, squash, pumpkins, okra, corn, and amaranth greens you…
This is a vegetable I am still experimenting with to get a formula that really works, but I thought I’d share my observations so far. Out of growing them collectively (but not consecutively) for about 5 years, I’ve harvested artichokes in two different seasons. One year they were nicely sized and tasty, the other year they were a little small…
Okay, so most of us don’t need to be talked into growing this one. Think of echinacea (also called coneflower) as the indoor plumbing of the garden — we usually take it for granted. There are few flowers better at attracting beneficial wildlife than native plants, and there are few native plants showier than the echinaceas. Unlike many “native” plants…
Why would you want to? Okay, maybe for the olives… I have nothing against the West Coast, nor am I promoting a competition. I just think we should give the United States some balance. If you want to make a big change, make it in a place where there needs to be a big change! Not that it is much…