Piedmont Picnic has joined Foragable Community as the business lead for the newest member of our growing network: Foragable Raleigh. They have teamed up with local gardening experts, Will Hooker and Jeana Myers to kick off Foragable Raleigh this month with a workshop on how to grow a more resilient garden. Will Hooker and Jeana Myers are a husband and wife dynamic duo of gardening expertise that are local to the Raleigh area. Jeana Myers is a Wake County Extension agent of Agriculture and Horticulture who educates people on growing their own food every day and Will Hooker is a professor emeritus of horticulture from NCSU and nationally-renowned permaculture expert.
Creating More Resilient Gardens will explore new techniques for a more resilient and independent garden in the face of a changing climate. As rainfall becomes more variable – heavier rains and longer droughts – specific management practices can help to capture excess water and withstand longer dry spells in your home garden. Soil health and management, mulch, swales, and irrigation all impact resiliency. Proper soil health and management utilizes soil as a buffer for rainfall variability while mulch reduces evaporation. The creation of swales – low tracts of moist or marshy lands – allow for increased water retention in large rain events while simultaneously storing water for dryer times. Beginners and experienced growers alike will learn something new about soils, mulch, swales, providing shade and shade structures, and irrigation for more resilient and independent garden management. Participants will also learn about the history and traditions of foods in the local Raleigh community. The workshop will be held at Raleigh City Farm, a formerly vacant one-acre lot in downtown Raleigh, whose mission is to engage community in a vibrant sustainable local food system.
Creating More Resilient Gardens is the first workshop in a series of two hosted by Foragable Raleigh this Fall. The workshop series aims to connect folks to local foodways and build resilience and community through food. Join Piedmont Picnic for the launch of Foragable Raleigh Saturday, Oct. 19th! For more information about the workshop and to register click here.
The Piedmont Picnic Project uses food history to build awareness and skills around traditional food practices (foraging, gardening, mixology, preserving, fermenting, and creative reuse). Co-founded by Elizabeth Weichel and Amanda Matson, Piedmont Picnic creates highly-interactive classes, walking tours, and picnics in the Triangle region based on the principle that food history can be a lot of fun and teach us practical ways to eat and live more locally, sustainably, and simply.
Raleigh City Farm is a nonprofit urban farm founded in 2011 on a formerly vacant one-acre lot in downtown Raleigh. They believe in the power of urban farms to reduce waste, create healthier communities, and re-connect city-dwellers with healthy food production through more frequent encounters with agriculture.