High Country Seed Swap & Growers School

Saturday, 3/15 at Family Central 8:30 AM – 1:30 PM

On Saturday, March 15, 2014, all aspiring and practicing area gardeners are invited to Ashe Family Central (the former Ashe Central High School in Jefferson) to the High Country Seed Swap. The event features a day-long open exchange of seeds, plus a workshop apple tree grafting taught by area experts. Beginning at 8:30 AM, gardeners will be able to display their own surplus seeds and view the offerings of others on tables set up in the cafeteria space. The seed swap will continue throughout the day.  Coffee and food locally prepared by Subs 2 GO, A&M Concessions, and Reid’s Catering will be available for purchase on-site at Family Central throughout the morning and early afternoon. The grafting workshop and fruit-scion-wood exchange will be held from 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM, led by nationally known apple experts Ron & Suzanne Joyner.

Gardeners are encouraged to bring any surplus seeds, bulbs, corms, plants, and fruit scion wood they can to exchange. Seed swaps operate on the honor principle that gardeners will bring whatever they can this year, grow what they take from this swap, and bring more seeds from their crops to next year’s seed swap.

The Seed Swap takes place in the Community Space (i.e.- former cafeteria) of Ashe Family Central, located at 626 Ashe Central School Rd., in Jefferson, NC (28640). North Carolina Cooperative Extension sponsors the event, with support from the Ashe County Farmers Market.

Ron and Suzanne Joyner, of Big Horse Creek Farm in Lansing, will teach the grafting workshop. They are nationally known for their conservation and propagation of old Southern Apple varieties. The grafting workshop taught by the Joyners will be hands-on, with participants able to learn with the actual tools of the trade. Apple rootstocks will be available for purchase at the workshop, so if participants choose, they can graft several trees to then bring home and plant themselves (a flat fee of $10 will allow participants to graft up to three fruit trees). Information about collecting scionwood samples for grafting can be found at their website: http://www.bighorsecreekfarm.com/horticulture.htm

Area Extension Agent Richard Boylan coordinates the Seed Swap, with assistance from Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture and Ashe County Farmers Market volunteers. He notes that the venue has been perfect for past seed swaps, but that participation is always crucial to make the event a success, “Ashe Family Central’s Community Space (the old school cafeteria) is the perfect spot to meet up and swap seeds in an open exchange. It’s big enough that folks can spread-out, browse seeds, and talk. The more participants who bring seeds to share, the better the Swap will be.”

The event is free and open to all gardeners and farmers in the region. For more information, e-mailrichard_boylan@ncsu.edu or call Cooperative Extension at 828-264-3061

Watauga Clean Up

Blue Ridge Conservancy staff, a team of ASU student volunteers, AmeriCorps Project Conserve, Lauri Wilson, the Executive Director at Blue Ridge Seeds for Change and a resident of the Sleepy Hollow community, Wendy Patoprsty, an Extension Agent at the Watauga County NC Cooperative Extension, and “M” Mueller, a local citizen have begun working on a Blue Ridge Conservancy (BRC) property to ultimately have a demonstration permaculture garden on it.  

Volunteers cleaned up trash, cut brambles, and assisted with invasive species removal. GDS, Inc. donated dumpsters for the clean-up in which volunteers collected 2,800 lbs of trash in a dumpster and three truck loads of recyclables.

“The headwaters of the Watauga River flows through this property which supports trout and many other aquatic organisms that indicate clean water,” said Watauga County NC Cooperative Extension Agent Wendy Patoprsty. “Volunteers from the MLK Challenge picked up more than a dump truck load of trash from this site that had the potential to leach or flow into the river during rain events.  Every piece of litter collected helps protect our valuable water resources so this was a good day for the river.”

CNN Hero of the Year Comes to Boone

2014 Rain Barrel Sale

To order click this link:   http://www.rainbarrelprogram.org/watauga-county

Small Farms Week Kickoff - In BOONE, March 24

Bill Moretz, Small Farmer of the Year

Watauga County Cooperative Extension will kick-off NC’s Small Farms Week with a day-long event in Boone on Monday, March 24 at the Boone United Methodist Church. The day’s program starts at 9:30am. The morning session will include a keynote address by Dr. Manny Reyes of NCA&T State University on sustainable farm and community practices in mountainous regions, followed by breakout sessions on "Perennial Plants and Sustainability Strategies for Hillside Farming", "Streamside Conservation Buffers on the Farm," and "Turning a Profit with Small Scale Livestock Production?"

After lunch, there will be a farm tour with three stops: Otus Branch Farm (cover crops), Panoramic View Christmas Tree Farm (choose & cut and value-added)  and Moretz Mountain Orchard (a diversified commercial orchard, and the winner of 2013 small farmer of the year).

Registration and lunch are both  FREE for farmers. Please contact the Cooperative Extension office at 264-3061 to register, or you can register here:http://www.ncat.edu/academics/schools-colleges1/saes/cooperative-extension/sfw2014.html


  Farm Tour Itinerary
1) Otus Branch Farm, 10 Big Hill Rd., Boone, NC 28607: Summer/Fall Cover Crops Demonstration - Three techniques of using cover crops to enhance soil fertility and reduce erosion are showcased at this organic market garden site. A summer-planted bed of millet was mowed before the fall planting of garlic now growing there. Two beds of summer-planted buckwheat were allowed to frost-kill, with the crop residue left in place to protect the soil over the winter, yet allow easy spring time cultivation and planting. Three other beds were seeded in late summer to wheat and clover, which will be allowed to grow until late May, and then mowed for summer cash crop plantings.

2) Panoramic Tree Farm, 368 Panoramic Lane, Boone, N.C. 28607: A choose-and-cut Christmas tree operation run by Joey Clawson and his family. Joey has worked with Cooperative Extension for many years and markets his farm as a “family experience.” Panoramic Tree Farm features a petting zoo and a wreath-making shop to sell value-added farm products. Clawson practices integrated pest management, sells produce and maintains a beef cattle herd.

3) Moretz Mountain Orchard and Farms, 2820 Big Hill Road, Boone, N.C. 28607: Recipient of the 2013 Small Farmer of the Year Award, Bill Moretz grows a variety of fruiting trees, shrubs, vines in a system that sustainably and abundantly produces on steep slopes. He grows apples, peaches, pears, nectarines, brambles blueberries, kiwi, and many other fruits, vegetables, and crops. He sells through direct marketing and Community Support Agriculture.

Aspiring women farmers build skills with farm incubator project

The farm incubator and grower project (FIG), located in Valle Crucis, will host three women growers this year. According to the 2012 agriculture census, women are leaders in the local food movement. Most aren’t interested in operating large commodity farms. Rather, they tend to operate small-scale, diversified farms producing goods for direct sale as principal operators of 14% of the nation's farms.

While women operators do own a greater percentage of their farmland, being successful enough to invest in land, equipment, and infrastructure through farming takes time. Locally, the FIG site provides low cost access to farm resources. The growers lease acreage, and have access to a shared tractor, greenhouse, washing station, a cooler, and other tools. Previous FIG farmer Matt Cooper serves as a mentor by providing advice on production, resource management, and marketing.

Caroline Hampton has named her half acre operation Octopus Garden, referring to her eight closest friends, and “homage to community”. She will be marketing sustainably grown vegetables, herbs, and flowers at local farmers markets and hopes to build a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), where customers who want to support her farm invest in her growing season up front and receive a share of what she grows for the rest of the season.

Hampton became interested in agriculture while attending UNC Chapel Hill, where she was immersed in the thriving local foods community around the hub of Carrboro farmers market. She built relationships with farmers who mentored her through apprenticeships. Last fall, she rounded out her experience with more formal learning at the Center for Environmental Farming Systems’ organic vegetable farm in Goldsboro, NC.

Those interested in supporting this young farmer may like Octopus garden on Facebook or donate to help cover start up costs through the IndieGoGo fundraising campaign at http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/octopus-garden-nc-a-small-farm-project.

Rashell Aunchman from the Taproots School of Lively Living has a background in herbalism. She will be focusing on medicinal herb production for an herbal CSA, as well as growing vegetables. The herbal CSA will provide members with access to fresh herbs and homemade herbal products such as soaps, salves, chapstick, as well as access to herbal education opportunities. She plans to offer two children’s programs this summer on the farm, one for pre-K and one for kids ages 5-9.  Children will experience the farm, learn how to make fun gardens, and have opportunities to make art outside with projects like birdhouses, wreaths, and painting with plants dyes.  Aunchman will also offer classes for adults in biodynamic agriculture and yoga in relation to gardening.  Other workshops planned include topics such as gardening, beekeeping, wild edibles and medicinals, mead making, wild fermentation, and animal processing. For more information, her e-mail is taprootsschool@gmail.com

Lee Carlton with Goldenrod Garden is returning for her second year at the FIG site. She grows perennials, herbs, cut flowers and vegetables, and sales at the Watauga county farmers’ market.

The women also plan to make vegetables available for locals at a road side stand on the FIG site, located on Dutch Creek road.