Gardens Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

World Record Attempt Brings Attention To Home Gardening, Food Access

History could be made Friday night at a baseball game in Morgantown — but it won’t have anything to do with the ball game.

The West Virginia University Extension Family Nutrition Program will attempt to break the record for the “world’s largest gardening lesson” when the West Virginia Black Bears play the Mahoning Valley Scrappers Friday night.

Zack Harold, the multimedia specialist with the WVU Extension Family Nutrition Program, said the attempt is a way to increase awareness of the Grow This: West Virginia Garden Challenge program that sends free seats to West Virginians.

“We thought, ‘What better way to get people excited and try to make history with home gardening?’” he said. “As much as it is about getting outside and enjoying the process of gardening, it’s also a food access issue for us.”

Harold said the main objective at the Family Nutrition Program is to teach West Virginia families how to feed their families better and healthier. One of the best ways to do that is to feed your family fresh fruits and vegetables.

“As we all know, that’s gonna be really hard to come across in West Virginia. We have a lot of areas of the state that are food deserts,” he said. “But if you learn to grow that food, it becomes not an issue of getting in the car and driving an hour to the nearest grocery store, it becomes just a matter of walking out to your backyard and picking it off the vine.”

The focus of the gardening lesson will be using recycled materials in the garden, which Harold said is meant to dispel the misconception that gardening requires a lot of upfront investment and cost.

“But really, if you got seeds, and you got some soil and water, you can use containers around your house to start seeds and grow them in,” he said. “You just got to get a little bit creative and West Virginians are great at that kind of creativity.”

The lesson will be taught by Sherry Weaver, winner of the recent Grow This Has Talent contest, and will aim to beat the current record, set in Turkmenistan in October 2022, where 569 people learned how to plant grape vines.
Editor’s note: Zack Harold also works as a Folkways reporter for the Inside Appalachia Folkways Project.

A New Generation Takes Up A Tomato Tradition

Dean Williams can’t park his Subaru Outback in his garage anymore. He’s turned that space in his Huntington, West Virginia home into a makeshift tomato nursery.

Dozens of baby tomato plants stick out of plastic pots filled with Pro-Mix seed-starting soil. Those pots sit on a table made of plywood and sawhorses. Grow lights hover just above the plants, dangling on chains that reach to the ceiling.

Though Williams has gardened for years, this is the first time he has ever tried to raise anything from seed.

“It worried me because I started them and they say they are supposed to germinate within five and 12 days,” Williams said. “Well, day 12 arrived and nothing had come up yet.”

This disappointed Williams, because these aren’t just regular tomatoes. They are Estler Mortgage Lifters, a tomato developed in the 1920s by Williams’ grandfather-in-law, William Estler of Barboursville, West Virginia.

Williams planted his tomatoes in his garden in late May. According to his late father-in-law Bob Estler’s rule, they will be the only breed of tomato grown in his garden this year. Estler never grew other tomatoes for fear they would cross-pollinate with his Mortgage Lifters.

The plants are not to be confused with “Radiator Charlie” Mortgage Lifter tomatoes popular at farmers markets and in seed catalogs. Those Mortgage Lifters are better known, but the Mortgage Lifters in Dean Williams’ garage made their debut a decade earlier than the Radiator Charlie variety.

William Estler created his tomato by crossbreeding Ponderosa and Pritchard tomatoes, resulting in a pink and sweet fruit. He raised the plants for years until his death in 1968. His son Bob Estler then spent the rest of his own life raising the plants and attempting to raise awareness about his father’s tomato.

When Bob Estler passed away in 2012, Dean Williams — Bob’s son-in-law — appointed himself keeper of the family tomato tradition.
He got seeds his mother-in-law, Mary Lou, kept from the last of Bob Estler’s tomatoes. That’s why he was so disappointed when it didn’t appear the plants would sprout.

But then came day 13. Just when Williams thought all hope was gone, seven plants sprouted from the soil.

“By that evening I had 20 up,” Williams said. “And by the next day I had 45. And it just kept exploding over the next three to four days.”

Williams eventually found himself with 185 tomato plants. But only a dozen are destined for his own garden. He’s providing the rest to local greenhouses — Hatcher’s Greenhouse in South Point, Ohio, and Joyce’s Greenhouse in Huntington — so local gardeners can grow Estler Mortgage Lifters in their own backyards.

Even this is a continuation of a long family tradition. Both greenhouses used to raise Mortgage Lifters for Bob Estler.

“It’s my wife’s legacy. Her family’s legacy,” Williams said. “I’d like to see this get some ground roots behind it and see other people find some interest and want it to move forward, too.”

Williams isn’t charging the greenhouses for the plants — just like his father-in-law Bob didn’t charge for the bushels and bushels of tomatoes and Mortgage Lifter seeds he gave away through the years.

“I look at this way,” Williams said. “I think Bob is watching over me a little bit. Without him, I don’t think I would be this successful.”

This story is part of the Inside Appalachia Folkways Reporting Project, a partnership with West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Inside Appalachia and the Folklife Program of the West Virginia Humanities Council. The Folkways Reporting Project is made possible in part with support from Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies to the West Virginia Public Broadcasting Foundation. Subscribe to the podcast to hear more stories of Appalachian folklife, arts, and culture.

Edible Mountain – How To Create A Yard Salad

One person’s weeds are another one’s lunch. Your own yard may have a bounty of wild plants that are both edible and tasty. Learn how to make a yard salad with Barbara Volk!

The wise woman tradition of Appalachia has been passing down the knowledge of native plants for many generations, identifying which ones can be used as food and medicine. Here’s just a small taste of what might be growing in your neighborhood. You may be inspired to step outside and create your own salad.

Caution: Some plants can be dangerous if eaten. Consult a field guide or an expert’s advice before picking and eating any plant that can not be completely identified and confirmed.

Edible Mountain is a bite-sized, digital series from WVPB that showcases some of Appalachia’s overlooked and underappreciated products of the forest while highlighting their mostly forgotten uses.

Disclaimer: Folks, we hope that you take caution when entering the forest. Please always be aware of your surroundings, while treading lightly, so as to not disturb the natural joy and wonder that our wilderness provides.

Although most of the flora or fauna described in Edible Mountain has been identified by experts in the field, it is critical to your health and safety that you properly identify any item in the forest before eating or touching it. If you are uncertain about anything, please leave it alone and ask for an expert’s advice. Many dangerous plants and fungi share similar properties, which make them easily confused with their nonlethal relatives.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting (WVPB) wants you to discover, protect and enjoy your natural surroundings. We do not want to see you harmed. Please harvest sustainably so that the bounty can be enjoyed by future generations.

The information contained within Edible Mountain is for general information purposes only. WVPB assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in the contents on this service. WVPB make no guarantees as to the accuracy of the information presented, and any action you take upon the information in this program is strictly at your own risk.

In no event shall WVPB or contributors be liable for any special, direct, indirect, consequential or incidental damages or any damages whatsoever, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tort, arising out of or in connection with the use of the service or the contents of the service. WVPB reserves the right to make additions, deletions, or modification to the contents on the service at any time without prior notice.

More Outdoor Learning Could Improve Student Achievement & Confidence

Community members are rallying around a school in the Eastern Panhandle. They want to build an outdoor classroom so that kids can get into nature more readily. The goal is to improve academic achievement and provide more opportunities – especially for kids from low-income areas.

Let’s Build Some Raised Gardens

Fourth-graders at North Jefferson Elementary School in Jefferson County are spending a portion of their morning learning outside of the classroom…in the front lawn of their school.

“We are making a garden,” a handful of them said, “We have three raised beds. One’s a circle. One’s [an] Orca. And one’s a square.”

Back in January, on a rare, warm winter day, these kids planted their first seeds in three raised vegetable gardens.

They designed and built the gardens with the help from their teacher Jim Jenkins and a newly formed community group based out of Charles Town called the Kiwanis Club of Blue Ridge West Virginia.

Kiwanis Club of Blue Ridge West Virginia member Roger Ethier helps two students dig in the dirt.

“The Kiwanis came to us and asked if they could make some raised bed gardens,” Jenkins said, “and I thought it was a great idea; they wanted the kids to raise their own food.”

This local chapter of the Kiwanis Club is a member of the Kiwanis International group, which says its focus is to empower communities and improve the world by making a difference in the lives of children.

“The school population is some of the most underprivileged population of Jefferson County,” noted Kiwanis Club of Blue Ridge member Tom Cain, “and we felt it important to adopt the school to try to come in and provide mentorship for as many of the students as we could.”

Increasing Educational Opportunities

North Jefferson Elementary School is one of more than 340 Title I public schools in West Virginia.

That means, most of the students at North Jefferson come from low-income households, so the school gets federal financial assistance to help ensure its students meet state academic standards and get as many of the same opportunities as other schools.

The Kiwanis Club stepped in to help enrich educational opportunities at the school, but wants to go beyond three raised garden beds. They hope to secure private and state funding to revitalize the entire schoolyard behind the school, turning it into an outdoor classroom.

Jenkins, the students’ teacher, is excited for it.

“This area right here is going to be a monarch way station, and that’s going to be a wildflower meadow there, and we’re gonna have book stations, benches, geology,” he explained, “and then behind the school, if you have time, we’ll look at the spot I think the outdoor classroom’s gonna go.”

Students step back inside the classroom with their teacher Jim Jenkins to graph out the best locations in the soil to plant their seeds.

Behind the school, the hope is to create a variety of seating areas and outdoor learning stations. Jenkins hopes to teach not just science out here, but also writing, math and social studies.

“This is an ideal location for an outdoor classroom,” said Roger Ethier — also a member of the Kiwanis Club of Blue Ridge West Virginia. He’s been spearheading the outdoor classroom project at North Jefferson.

“When the students finish the outdoor classroom, they have this beautiful outdoor area where they can hop, skip, and jump, and just have a great time.”

Inspiration from 500 Miles Away

Ethier says this outdoor classroom project was inspired by a successful initiative in Boston, Massachusetts called the Boston Schoolyard Initiative.

The Boston project lasted almost 20 years, and by the time it ended in 2013, more than 80 schoolyards in Boston were revitalized from barren asphalt lots to centers for recreation, learning and community life, including 33 outdoor classrooms.

Kristin Metz was the Director of Education for the Boston Schoolyard Initiative for thirteen years. She and teachers involved in the Boston project participated in a study where they reported observing significant growth in students as outdoor classrooms were more utilized – from deeper interest and confidence in science coursework to a sense of equality among their peers.

“It leveled the playing field that students who had very different life experiences could come together and share what they were doing outside, and that gave them more respect for each other,” Metz said.

Metz says she thinks the same thing could happen for the students at North Jefferson – many of whom come from low-income homes.

According to a 2011 study done by the National Center for Education Statistics, students in the United States who come from low-income homes are five times more likely to drop out of high school than middle-income students. In West Virginia, one out of every 100 students dropped out of high school during the 2016-2017 school year, according to state sources.

“If students are outdoors, they have access to a wide range of experiences,” Metz noted, “You know, you can touch things that are very soft, or hard, or brittle, or bristly, or spikey, or soggy, and that’s just at the very, most basic level – you have this range of materials, and they’re available, they’re free, they’re just there, and so I think that it just very much enriches what students have access to.”

One of three raised garden beds at North Jefferson Elementary; the Orca garden.

What’s Next for North Jefferson Elementary?

The Kiwanis Club of Blue Ridge West Virginia has continued to develop school gardens at North Jefferson Elementary over the school year, but still doesn’t have the funds to build out the full outdoor classroom.

They hope to hear soon about a state grant that would allow them to make progress.

As the school year nears its close, the students at North Jefferson now have spinach and lettuce growing in their gardens, and they’ve recently planted strawberries.

A solar panel was also installed to provide rainwater irrigation to support two butterfly beds and the raised gardens.

How Vacant Lots in Charleston Are Transforming Into a School for Farmer-Entrepreneurs

On a sultry summer evening, three women are killing harlequin beetles in an effort to save the greens at the SAGE micro-farm on Rebecca Street that they landscaped themselves.

Last year, Kathy Moore, Jenny Totten and Meg Reishman completed 18 agriculture and business classes through SAGE, which stands for Sustainable Agricultural Entrepreneurs. Kathy says she loves getting to take home an unlimited supply of fresh vegetables each week.

“Oh my goodness, the green zebra tomatoes were absolutely my favorite. They are just absolutely luscious!” says Kathy, who works a day job, like most of the other growers, outside the SAGE micro-farm. She and the other SAGE growers also earn a few hundred dollars apiece at the end of the year based on the group’s produce sales.

The food is grown on Charleston’s West Side, in a high-crime area with many vacant lots. Over the past two years, the SAGE program has transformed two of these lots into working micro-farms.

New this year is the Rebecca St. garden, with its unusual swirling starburst shape. At the center of the beds of squash, kale and tomatoes is a bright circle of sunflowers, zinnias, basil and cilantro. Kathy is surprised that the garden’s design has been so successful.

“I had no idea that it would be so inviting. So, yeah. It’s a really nice design, and people are excited just to come and look at it.”

Rainbow chard and collard greens have been some of SAGE’s best sellers this year

SAGE sells edible flowers to a local restaurant in Charleston called Mission Savvy. The flower and herbs are grown in a circle at the center of the Rebecca Street garden.

The SAGE program teaches growers like Meg Reischman how to make a business plan and how to choose the most profitable types of produce.

“I was having a difficult time sitting down and figuring out what my break even price was, and whether it was worth growing it or not, making a plan,” Meg says.

Many of the students struggle with these questions, says SAGE instructor Dr. Dee Sing-Knights, Assistant Professor of Agricultural Economics with West Virginia University’s extension services. She teaches the SAGE growers how to manage small businesses and how to market their produce. She tells the growers to make sure the public knows that SAGE’s organic produce might cost a little more than supermarket vegetables, which often come from larger, more mechanized farms.

“I always tell them, you have to tell your customers that listen, the reason this costs more is I squashed my bugs by hand!” says Dr. Singh-Knights. The SAGE growers are also learning to educate more potential customers about the value of spending money inside the community, versus sending the money out of state by buying food at a chain store.

Even if the 18 SAGE graduates never become full time farmers, this morning for breakfast they are probably all making food using at least one ingredient they grew themselves.

This year, the group has seen an increase in the sales of produce and flowers at their local Saturday markets, as more customers are enjoying the fruits of their labor, too.