Visitors Come Callin’ to the Mountains

The Owsley County Farm To School Gardening Group was all abuzz with chat and activity in the FB group and in the gardens getting ready for Grow Appalachia to do site visits this month. All hands were out in the gardens pulling weeds, fertilizing, tilling, and getting everything in top notch shape. You see, having a clean, neat as a pin garden, is very much a source of pride here in the mountains. We were all ready, just in case they had time to stop by…

As it turned out, Faye had visited our area before and was familiar with our county. On the first route, we had six home gardens pretty close together. As it turned out, our families talked her leg off and we visited for a spell at each garden. There were children leading her up and down garden rows pointing out their vegetables, young fathers and grandfathers showing off their gardens and watching their children shyly but eagerly talk about the garden. We visited a veteran who had gardened with his grandpa as a child and has taken up gardening again after moving here, a retired couple who are sharing gardening with their grandchildren, a young father teaching his children the skills to grow their own food, a young family trying out their first high tunnel and a high tunnel mostly devoted to herbs. Then we came back to the farmers market to meet two of our vendor participants who grow locally to sell at the market.

The visits were very relaxed and comfortable and met with all the hospitality of the mountain farmers that makes this such a friendly, down to earth place to visit. We ran out of time before we got to the planned bean stringing and bean breaking. When you visit folks in the mountains, you never leave empty handed and this was no exception. Visitors were gifted squash, zucchini and more.

Later that evening, after dusk had fallen, chores were done and our participants had settled inside for the evening, modern traditions merged with the old as the FB chat lit up with chatter about the visit: How hod everything gone? What did they say about our gardens? Did they enjoy their visit? When will they come back again? Then it turned to how happy they were to have had visitors and much they liked being in the program. Then it moved on to a flurry of harvesting pictures, favorite recipes, garden pictures, kraut making and more….

We are very proud of how hard our gardening group has worked and cooperated this year! Our gardeners have been very successful with their gardens and are now getting to enjoy the things they have grown, We are all are learning from each other – some brand new at it and some lifelong gardeners. Being from a small community where everyone knows almost everyone it is good to see people coming together with the bond of gardening and it has been a great way for our newcomers to the area to get to know us better.

Next up for our group, more food preservation, more recipes and more getting ground ready where the early spring crops are done seeds to re plant there for late summer/early fall crops…. a group activity is in the works for how to plant fall crops of mustard, kale, turnips where participants can attend and plant/harvest together in an extra spot we found at the community garden for fall.