Well, this was supposed to be a joy-filled post about Build It Up as we wrap up our 10th year with Grow Appalachia. Instead, we are barely staying afloat in the aftermath or Hurricane Helene. Our communities have been wrecked with record water levels, fallen trees, power and water outages and washed out roads prohibiting travel between East TN and West NC. If I’m honest, my capacity to write a blog post right now is pretty low. Therefore, I want to share a poem from the author of a book I’ve been reading called Leaning Toward Light: Poems for Garden and the Hands Who Tend Them. It’s a collection of poems related to nature, heritage, gardens, and the world in which we live in. While we battle flooding, this poem explores a parallel.

Green Tomatoes in Fire Season by Tess Taylor

“There is smoke in the air
when I go pick them.

I go despite panic, also because
inside I’ll make chutney.

For an hour or so, I unlatch them.
It is late fall. They will not ripen.

Firm pale green skins,
fine-coated in ash.

Our fire season goes all autumn now,
though today’s fire is not

yet near to us.
But the green tomatoes: I love their pale lobes.

Tonight, god-willing,
we will fry some with cornmeal & fish.

Inside the air purifier whirs:
I will boil them with molasses & raisin.

Jar them for friends & the winter.
Disaster, we say, meaning bad star.

These are good green stars,
this is also their season.

Mask on, I bend & bend to the vine:
I bend & salvage what I can.”

~Tess Taylor

 

Some celebrations I am excited about for the 2025 Build It Up program:

  • At the end of August, we grew just over 30,000lbs of food!
  • High attendance and engagement throughout the year
  • Witnessing friendships form and branch out to other participants throughout the program. Now more than ever, friendships, connections and helping hands are needed. I hope Build It Up provided more opportunity for those.
  • I am so very grateful for our program participant this year. We have learned and grown together.

 

Together, as a community, we will get through this! I’m honored to apart of it.

Rosie McVeigh

Build It Up East TN