On May 13, 2025, during Scott Christian Care Center’s bi-weekly household pantry giveaway, several Grow Appalachia members and UT Extension Program assistant, Teressa Honeycutt, were able to provide several Scott County households with free tomato plants, courtesy of Grow Appalachia Program Assistant and Master Gardener, Gregory Botts. Gregory runs a small business in Scott County as a licensed greenhouse grower and sells his plants, such as the tomatoes, to community members at the local farmers markets. Over the past two years, Gregory has been very generous with his donation of tomato plants to the Scott Christian Care Center for their food and household pantry participants to enjoy. He donated an excess of 400 tomato plants last year and has already donated approximately 100 this year. Leftover tomato plants not handed out that day were donated to the Senior Citizens Center in Oneida, Tennessee, who hope to utilize the plants for their own needs. 

 Following the handing out of tomato plants, the Grow Appalachia members who assisted Teressa met for their weekly gardening class called “Let’s Grow Tennessee,” which is held through the University of Tennessee Extension Office. “Let’s Grow Tennessee” focuses on small space and community gardening. Our site, which is located at the Scott Christian Care Center, has chosen to plant everything utilizing the “no-dig” gardening method. This method of gardening was brought mainstream by Charles Dowding, who is from the United Kingdom. This method of gardening increases access to gardening for families who may not have access to equipment, such as tills and plows, or the financial means for traditional gardening.

For our April Grow Appalachia gathering, Doug Stephens shared his expertise in a thorough organic gardening class.   He guided us through the foundational principles of garden sustainability and ecosystem health, delving into practical subjects like composting, enriching soil, strategic crop rotation, beneficial companion planting, and natural pest control, plus much more.