Hello!

Rosie here with Build It Up East TN! We are a gardening program located in Northeast TN serving 4 counties. Our program averages around 50 gardening families a year. This is our 14th year of operation and we’re excited to get the year started!

We’re ramping up for our first workshop TONIGHT! We have 52 gardening families committed to the program this year – 30 new gardeners and 22 returning gardeners. Our workshop tonight will go over course expectations, site selection, and crop planning with time to socialize and get to know one another. With all the uncertainty and the funding freezes happening right now, it’s really wonderful to have a bright spot in Build It Up to keep us uplifted and inspired. We WILL continue to grow food, build community resiliency, and support each other through these trying times.

One of the things this year that has really encouraged me is the amount of applications we reviewed that are already enacting plans to grow food within neighborhoods and communities whether or not they were accepted into the program. Many applications talked about involving neighbors and one even said they had a text chain with 15 of their neighbors and were planning to garden together! Across our region, people are banding together when we’re seeing so much effort to isolate us from one another. That is encouraging. I am hopeful that this season of growing will further support and stimulate a community of resilience and sufficiency like we’ve never seen before.

I will have more updates next month with two workshops and a material distribution under our belts!

Until next time,

Rosie McVeigh

Build It Up East TN